Chris Jones: Greene Publishing, Inc.;
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the department has started issuing new, more secure Florida drivers' licenses and ID cards. By the end of December 2017, the new cards will be available at all service centers throughout Florida and online. Previous driver's licenses and ID cards will still be in use alongside the new credential until replaced or phased out.
The front of the new cards will incorporate a pastel-colored linear rendering of the Florida State seal and a large orange “FL” over a stark white base. On the back of the card, an image of the State of Florida rests among ocean waves, and the year 1845 is displayed, referring to the year Florida became the 27th state. Photograph images will now be printed with a transparent background and appear in four locations on the card.
The new credential design incorporates nearly double the fraud protection measures compared to the previous design, including redundant data, ultraviolet ink and optically variable features. New credentials will be issued with designated header colors that denote the type of license the customer holds. Credentials held by customers under 21 years of age will display a red box on the front of the card, which indicates the date until which the customer will be under 21. The new design incorporates designations for lifetime sportsman, boater, freshwater, saltwater and hunting licenses, as well as designations for veterans, organ donors, deaf/hard of hearing and developmentally disabled.
Beginning August 2017, the new cards will be offered at select service centers, with additional service centers each month. The new cards will be available at all service centers by the end of December 2017. They will also be available for online renewals at GoRenew.com by the end of December 2017.
Motorcycle endorsements will no longer be spelled out on the front of licenses. Motorcycle-also and motorcycle-only endorsements have been added and are designated by an “A” or “O” in the endorsement field located on the front of the card and are also indicated by an “A-MTRCL Also” or “O-MTRCL Only” on the back of the card. New cards will allow for the identification of sexual predators and sexual offenders with a blue identifier on the bottom right of the front of the card. Sexual predators will have “Sexual Predator” spelled out on the card, while sexual offenders have “943.0435 F.S.” listed in this area. The new card will display small numbers next to each data field (i.e. name, expiration date, sex, height). The inclusion of these numbers is required by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators’ driver license and ID card design standard and has been adopted by many states.