WEST VALLEY CITY — New colors, new patterns and an overall new design will soon be in every purse and wallet in Utah.
On Tuesday, the state Driver License Division unveiled Utah's new drivers' licenses and ID cards. Four different cards, including a regular driver's license, an ID card, a driver's license for a minor and a driving privilege card, will start showing up on the streets next month.
The new cards actually went into effect last week. But the cards won't appear in the mail for those who recently applied for a new license or ID until November.
Driver License Division Director Nanette Rolfe said it usually takes about five years for counterfeiters to catch up with a new design, which is part of the reason the state felt it was time for a new license. Another reason was the push nationally for tighter security with important and personal documents.
The IDs and licenses, she said, come with many new security features, many of which have been adopted nationally.
"We didn't just dream these up," said Driver License Bureau chief Wallace Wintle. "The many security features in this design will make it difficult for counterfeiters."
The main license has a red banner, a gradual color change across the main body, a "ghost" portrait, overlapping data, an intricate Guilloche security design that resembles a mazelike pattern and a laser imprinted "optical variable device."
The driving privilege card has many of the same elements plus a large P on the design. The ID cards and minor driver licenses are vertical instead of the traditional horizontal. The ID card has a green heading instead of red.
Wintle said he doubted counterfeiters would have enough money to come up with the equipment they would need to forge all the new designs.
Officials have seen an increase in recent years of forgeries of the old licenses with the blue heading, he said.
The Driver License Division is hoping to spread the word of the new cards before they actually start showing up on the street. There is a concern there may be some confusion since there will now be three different licenses in circulation in Utah: the new design, the one with the blue heading and the old liniment licenses, which aren't scheduled to be phased out until 2011.
Residents who can't wait for their licenses to expire can get a copy of the new one for a $13 fee.
Rolfe said that for now, she does not anticipate an increase in cost of purchasing a license because of the new design.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com