Raleigh, NC – The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles has released new driver licenses, permits and identification cards featuring the latest in card security design and construction specifically intended to combat fraud.
More Secure
The new credentials are the most secure credential in state history and among the most secure identifying documents in the world. The state’s new credential is a 100% polycarbonate card that is personalized using laser engraving technology. Because of its composition, the card will not only look different, it will also feel and sound different.
The card will feel stiffer and have both embossed and debossed patterns and lettering on the surface of the card. When dropped onto a tabletop, it will make a unique metallic sound.
North Carolina-Inspired Design
The new card design showcases imagery familiar to North Carolinians, with hints of blue and green specifically chosen to correspond with well-known state attributes such as its rolling hills and abundant nature.
The card front includes the state’s flower – the dogwood, the state flag, state border outline, a marbled salamander, and a lighthouse, all at the forefront of the rolling hills in the west. The card back includes the Colonial Spanish mustang grazing along one of North Carolina’s many beaches in the east.
These design elements are among more than 50 security features used to assist law enforcement in the deterrence and detection of fraud.
The new card design will be put into production later this week as the current design is being phased out by the end of June.
In April, the DMV announced plans to increase prices by nearly 20% starting in July, in accordance with a North Carolina law that requires increases every four years based on the Consumer Price Index. The price of an eight-year driver’s license will rise from $44 to $52, while vehicle registration will rise from $38.75 to $46.25.