The Iowa Department of Transportation Tuesday unveiled a new design for state driver’s licenses at the Kim Snook of the Cedar Rapids Office of Driver Services says the new design upgrades the security features of the license, making it harder to duplicate.
It features a new color at the top of the license along with the State of Iowa seal. She says there are a lot of lines and different colors that come out from the seal and are difficult to duplicate. She says it also has your regular picture on the left side and a smaller “ghost” image on the lower right side, requiring anyone who makes a fake license to duplicate both photos.
College students are notorious for making fake licenses — and Snook says the new design won’t be popular on campus. She says it has many different levels of security and all the materials are inventoried, “So I think it will make them very unhappy. I think it will take them quite awhile to duplicate this license.” Snook says the machines that print the licenses are also upgraded with several security measures that would make them unusable if stolen.
The new machines and licenses will start spreading across the state this week. She says the first 18 D-O-T license sites are starting up first, and then the county treasurers offices will get the new machines. She says all the offices should have the new licenses by December.
Snook says you don’t have to replace your old license right. She says the current license is good until it expires and you can come in early and get a new license for one dollar.
One change that could make some people happy — Snook says your weight will not be listed on the front of the license — and will only be included in the electronic info on the back. She says people’s weight can change quite a bit these days and there’s no reason to have it on the front of the license as long as cops can get it from the electronic info on the back. It’s the first new design since Iowa began issuing licenses with digital photos in 1995.