City Council unveils new driver’s license
If you’ve ever had to use your Belize driver’s license to rent a car abroad, you know that its lack of technical sophistication raises more than a few eyebrows on the other side of the counter. That, however, may soon become a thing of the past. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reports on the new look for your wallet.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The new driver’s license is a Belize City Council initiative to make the document more secure and usable as a valid identification card not only in Belize, but also abroad.
David Fonseca, Mayor, Belize City
“As you know we have experienced a number of cases with the duplication of our present driver’s license in Belize City where we have learnt because of them coming in across the counter for renewal, our offices have picked them up as being duplicated or constructed outside of the formal authorized area of putting these cards together, so that was the main reason for us looking at this new card. And in addition to it, people locally and internationally use their drivers license in addition to the Social Security card as a form of identification, and because of the way the card is put together today, the Belize driver’s license is not seen as a proper identification card.”
This morning, the proposed driver’s license was unveiled during a ceremony at City Hall. A five-year contract was signed between the Belize City Council and Fultec Systems to produce the license. According to the company’s general manager, Dean Fuller, the work will be professionally done to meet international standards. Fuller says because of the special security features, it will be difficult for anyone to copy to new license.
Dean Fuller, General Manager, Fultec Systems
“First of all, it is a plastic card that has a photograph embedded in the card itself. The card comes pre-printed with a photograph of the Belize City Swing Bridge. It has a micro line print that goes around that photograph, and can only be seen under a microscope. Secondly, it has an ultra violet image that can be seen under a purple light, and it is a UV image of the city of Belize. The third security feature is the overlay, it has a holographic overlay, similar to that of the Social Security card, which has the flag of Belize and the words printed Belize City Council. The fourth security feature is the bar code feature that it has to ensure that the duplication of the blank cards are not made. And this has a serial number printed that it represents that specific card that is printed.”
Another new feature of the license is the inclusion of the holder’s Social Security number. But, contrary to what was shown at the presentation, that number, will not be readable on the card.
David Fonseca
“It’s important for us to have that number because it separates persons that might have the same name. But we can look at it, and I’m sure that the technical people from Fultec will be able to put that information behind the scenes. In other words, probably put it like say in barcode while printing it, so we can get that information and have it hidden away at the same time, that only the traffic department will have access to that information.”
The new driver’s license will come into effect in April and will cost thirty dollars a year to renew. But don’t worry, you won’t need to get the new license until your old one has expired. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
Mayor David Fonseca says although the new driver’s license is only for Belize City, it is expected that the system will eventually be introduced countrywide.
