This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

For the first time in a decade, Utah has overhauled the design of its driver licenses — and Gov. Gary Herbert promoted many of their new high-tech security measures Monday as he renewed his own permit.

But the new cards still can't guarantee a good driver-license picture.

After Herbert's new photo was snapped, the employee proclaimed it perfect. After the governor took a peek, he said, "You're not supposed to lie."

But he was happy to announce, "We'll have more security with our driver's license cards than ever before."

In fact, they have more than two dozen security features built into various layers of the cards to prevent counterfeiting, altering or copying, said Jenny Openshaw, vice president of MorphoTrust USA, the company that makes the licenses.

"Some of those I can talk about because they are obvious," she said. "Others I can't talk about because we wouldn't want to get that information into the hands of the wrong people."

For example, lasers engrave tiny holes to form a beehive in the license and identification cards for the Beehive State, and plastic laminate prevents the holes from filling with grime.

"If you hold the card up to the sun, or if a police officer holds a flashlight to it at night," Openshaw explained, "you can see the light shine through the laser perforation."

Lasers also engrave the holder's birth date onto the card. "By running your finger over the card," she said, "you can feel that tactile feature."

Lasers also engrave a black-and-white "ghost image" in the corner of the driver's color photo — making the cards difficult and expensive to counterfeit.

The new licenses also sport one-dimensional and two-dimensional bar codes.

"Utah has one of the more secure driver's license cards in the United States today," Openshaw said. "I think it represents a big step forward in safety and security."

She pointed to the new design and color scheme as "much better than the previous card," also produced by her company, which makes licenses for 41 states. She said Utah's new cards use "our latest and greatest technology."

Herbert said, "It's an example of Utah embracing technology" to protect against identity theft and counterfeiting.

He noted that as Utahns renew their licenses or ID cards during the next five years, they will automatically receive the new version. Clark Caras, director of the Driver License Division, said if people want the new, more secure card earlier, they may obtain one anytime — but would need to pay duplicate license fees.

Utah also added security to the temporary licenses that it issues while residents wait the four to six weeks for permanent cards to arrive in the mail.

They are printed on security paper that will show "VOID" when copied. The background on the paper also changes from light blue to yellow to light red. And a picture of southern Utah's iconic Delicate Arch is engraved at the top.

Herbert said the licenses are not the only thing that has improved at the Driver License Division. He noted, as the state has earlier, that the average wait time to renew or obtain a license has dropped from 23 minutes in 2010 to five minutes now.

"So the old jokes about the DMV and Driver's License Division are old jokes."