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Utah rolls out new driver license design

New elements are supposed to help prevent fraud by making it harder to duplicate them, officials said.

(Utah Department of Public Safety) Utah is rolling out a new design for its driver licenses and identification cards.

Utah is rolling out a new design for its driver licenses — but don’t worry, you won’t have to replace your current one.

Starting this month, the state is using a new design on driver licenses and identification cards it issues, the Utah Department of Public Safety announced in a news release. The new design is supposed to help prevent fraud and protect personal information, officials said.

“The industry standard is to regularly update cards and continuously employ updated technology in the design and production of them,” DPS Commissioner Jess Anderson said in the release. “Our ultimate goal by updating the design is to maintain the integrity of the credential itself and protect people’s identities.”

Previously issued driver licenses and ID cards are still valid until the expiration date on the card, according to the news release. It won’t be necessary to replace your current card with a new one.

The main elements of the new design are a stylized outline of Zion National Park’s Angels Landing in the background of the card, and Arches National Park’s Delicate Arch forms the “A” in Utah at the top of the license.

According to the news release, the new design incorporates technology and printing techniques that make the licenses hard to duplicate.

Other security features include:

  • The date of birth is printed in red, as well as laser engraved in larger font.

  • A ghost image of the driver’s photograph is laser engraved on the card.

  • A guilloche security design features waves and patterns printed in very fine lines that are not able to be scanned or easily reproduced.

“The technology employed in today’s driver licenses thwart fraud by putting in countermeasures that are extremely difficult to reproduce,” Anderson said in the release.