Action on Smoking and Health A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions    Info About ASH  | ash.org |  To Join ASH

Excerpts from Virginia Puts New Slant on Licenses, IDs for Minors

By Jay Mathews, Washington Post [03/31/99]

Beginning tomorrow, Virginians younger than 21 who receive a new driver's license or identification card may wonder if someone has made a mistake.

In a new attempt to curtail underage alcohol and tobacco purchases, licenses and ID cards for those younger than 21 will be printed vertically instead of horizontally, with the card holder's 18th and 21st birthdays shown in red.

Virginia officials say their state is the first to try this approach, designed to help store clerks instantly recognize an underage customer.

In recent years, licenses and ID cards for minors in Virginia have been distinguished by the fact that the photo shows the card holder in profile rather than from the front. But both police and store clerks told the state Department of Motor Vehicles that profile photographs made it more difficult to identify the card holder.

Both O'Connor and DMV spokeswoman Pam Goheen said one problem has been the inability or unwillingness of busy store clerks to look at the birth date on the license and subtract it from the current year to calculate the customer's age.

"Now we have done the math for them," Goheen said. The license or ID card of someone who turns 16 today will say in large red characters: "UNDER 21 UNTIL 03-31-2004" and "UNDER 18 UNTIL 03-31-2001."

The first new licenses and ID cards will go to under-21 applicants in the Richmond area in April. Northern Virginia applicants should be getting them no later than the end of June, Goheen said.

click here to return to ASH's Home Web Page: http://ash.org
click here for more information about Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
click here to learn the many benefits of joining ASH on-line, over the Internet