Q: I have been asking everyone I know why, when Rhode Island started with the new number license plates, they started with number 7. Why not start with 1? Then I thought 7 must be for the year ’07, but in November I saw plates that started with an 8. I would love to know the logic behind this. Am I the only one who is curious, or have you had other questions on the subject?

A: In the past, the DMV routinely reissued plates in the standard two-letter, three-number configuration, over and over as they become available in the system. Many hours were expended tracking down duplicate plates and dealing with customers who had been ticketed, towed or even arrested because of plate mix-ups. We also had the problem of plate frames obscuring the words “Rhode Island,” “Ocean State,” “Commercial” and “Combination” on license plates, making it difficult to tell, in the case of an intersection or toll-booth camera, exactly which plate was in question and who should be ticketed for an offense.

To begin to find a solution to the problem of duplicate plates, the DMV had to find a series of digits that had never been issued before. Six-digit commercial plates existed in the 100000 range. Special plates for mayors of cities and towns were in the 200000 through 600000 ranges; 700000 were the next series of numbers available that had never been issued in any plate type. We also had to find a solution that would be acceptable in our ancient computer system and not require hours of programming to implement, so the idea of switching the letter and numbers around was not feasible.

Issue numbers began at 710001 and will run through 999999, and there can be absolutely no ordering of a plate out of sequence. The Department of Corrections has been instructed not to take special orders. This will allow DOC to produce plates without a gap list — a computer run of plates available in the DMV system and, more importantly, to maintain an inventory of stock plates in DMV branches.

With the new system currently being built, we will have the ability to configure plates in any different sequences, according to our needs.

Gina Antonucci Zanni, chief of communications for the State Division of Motor Vehicles, has agreed to answer questions of general interest posed by Journal readers about state motor vehicle laws and procedures. To ask a question that would also be of interest to other readers, send a letter to Ask projoCars, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI, 02902. You can e-mail your question to projocars@projo.com. Please put “Ask projoCars” in the subject field. Questions or complaints of a specific nature should be posed to the DMV directly and will not be answered in this column.

Confused about road rules? Or looking for a low-number license plate? You’ll find an archive of official answers to past driving questions posed by Journal readers at projocars.com