It’s not easy to slip plate sobriquets past DMV

We’re going to have a little more license plate fun today. Consider this first inquiry a quick lesson in what you might or might not get away with on your plates. Administrators at the Department of Motor Vehicles are pretty sharp, so it isn’t easy to slip one by them, even if your request is innocent. Remember Stacy Moore? If not, you will learn about her below.

Lex has a couple of license plate-related questions. First: Since we’re down to license plates beginning with the letter X, will the Department of Motor Vehicles print plates with the letters XTC, as in the drug?

In a word: No. I don’t know how long you’ve been around these parts Lex, but this was a pretty big deal about five years ago. A woman named Stacy Moore had her personalized license plate “XSTACY” stripped from her by the DMV. The agency, of course, said there was a drug connotation linked to the designer drug Ecstasy. Moore said not so; she had her plates for two decades, long before the drug was popular. The case made it all the way to the state Supreme Court, where she lost.

The department prohibits plates that reference drugs or gangs. It also will not allow a plate that ridicules race, ethnic heritage, religion or gender.

Part two from Lex: On several occasions, I have seen vehicles with tinted covers over their license plates, making them impossible to read at safe distances. Isn’t this illegal and why would anybody do this. Are they ashamed of the car they are driving?

Well, I don’t really know how to answer the latter part of the question. Tom Jacobs, spokesman with the DMV, and I threw around some ideas, but couldn’t really think of any other than perhaps the owner has some legal issues or is very anal about keeping the plates in tip-top shape. If the tint is too dark to see the plate, then it is illegal and the driver could be ticketed.

Scott requests guidance: I have a question that came up the other day because I was almost run over, again. I am driving on the freeway and an emergency vehicle comes up behind me with its lights on. I pull over to the right shoulder and stop. I have a lot of trouble getting back up to speed and I am almost run over. What is the right thing to do?

Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Loy Hixson said that emergency vehicles will typically use the left-most lanes when responding to a call. Unless of course you are on a four-lane highway, they do not expect drivers to pull all the way over and come to a complete stop. As Scott noted, this could create a dangerous and chaotic situation. If you are in the path of the emergency vehicle, the best thing to do is pull to the right as far as safely possible until the vehicle passes. Again, you are not expected to come to a complete stop.

John asks: What are the latest projections for the extension of Galleria Parkway to the east of U.S. Highway 95 to the south side of Beazer Homes and the Tuscany development and intersect with Mohawk, which is just north of Lake Mead Parkway. This would be a much shorter route for all Highway 95 southbound drivers traveling to Tuscany and Lake Las Vegas and would take a lot of traffic off of Lake Mead Parkway.

Extending this stretch of Galleria is up to the developer, Landwell, as part of the company’s agreement with the city of Henderson. According to city spokeswoman Kathleen Richards, Landwell is in the middle of the design phase for the road. The city is tentatively expecting the bid for the road work to go out in the summer, which means construction could start as soon as fall. It is unclear how long the work will take, so no completion date is set at this time. We will keep you posted, John.

Randy asks: Is Vegas Drive over U.S. Highway 95 going to be widened to four lanes anytime soon or will it happen after the Highway 95 widening project is completed. It would make sense to finish it with the whole project.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Randy, but widening Vegas Drive is not part of the Department of Transportation’s highway project. As I’m sure you have noticed, widening the Cheyenne Avenue bridge is. The city of Las Vegas is widening Jones and Valley View boulevards to create better north-south arterials at U.S. 95. But Vegas Drive is not in the city’s plans either.

Mark is curious: I’d like to know what the project is that’s currently causing lane closures in both directions on Interstate 15 just north of the Lake Mead Boulevard ramps and how long will this be going on? It almost looks like they’re in the early stages of building another overpass, which makes no sense at all.

Senseless or not, that is precisely what the city of North Las Vegas is doing, Mark. Fifth Street is actually a badly needed arterial for residents and employees who live in the northwest valley and work in downtown North Las Vegas. For years, the street hit a dead end at Interstate 15.

The $65 million project ultimately will extend Fifth Street seven miles all the way to Interstate 215 near the community of Aliante. Right now, the project is focused on bringing Fifth Street across the I-15 and Losee Road. The next phase will carry it to Cheyenne Avenue.

North Las Vegas public officials have always been irked that the Las Vegas Valley’s two major freeways — I-15 and U.S. 95 — circumvent their city. The project is expected to be finished early next year.

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.