So my friend Emily just moved recently from Clarksville (and we MISS her! *sniff*) to Indiana. She went to get her new driver's license today and said you're not supposed to smile for your picture... I've NEVER heard this before... then again, if you remember the whole highway/freeway/interstate debate, this may not surprise you!! LOL I've always smiled for my pictures... not that it's made them turn out any better, but I guess I'm pre-conditioned to think that if there's a camera, you say "Cheese!" OK I don't actually SAY "cheese" because that would be weird, but you better believe that when they're taking my picture and I'm smiling I'm thinking, "Cheeeese!" Yes, I'm totally ok with the fact that I'm a dork. Moving on.
She also said she had to take a written test to get her license which I also didn't have to do when we moved here from California... and I'm REALLY glad I didn't! I may not have passed on the first shot like she did! :)
Anyway, do YOU smile for your driver's license picture???
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Well, seeing how I don't get my driver's license untill two years from now, I don't think this really applies to me. lol =], but if I could, then yes! i would definantly smile!
This is all new here in Indiana. We use to be able to smile... now there is a whole new set of rules. :( Let me know if she is close to Indianapolis... I would be more than happy to make her feel welcome!
Sherry in Indy
Yes, I smile. The one time they caught me off guard and not smiling I looked like I was posing for my mug shot or something. It was awful. But you know the more I thought about it the more I thought you know that's probably how I'd look if I got pulled over ;). I don't think I'd be all smiley and bubbly.
We had to take the written test when we moved up here. And of you're not supposed to smile...you're not supposed to smile.....whatchagonnado...
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It's part of Facial Recognition software. So, if you smile you mess it up for when they want to catch you in a crime later on. Here's a link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703627.html?hpid=topnews
I live in IN, too. Thankfully I don't renew my license for a couple more years. I have seen some new ones and they seriously look like mug shots. It's awful!
Like Leah said it is part of the facial recognition software. My daughter is a technician with Texas DPS Driver's License Division. Federal Mandate facial recognition software works best with no smile and no glasses. So if you wear glasses your DL picture will be taken without them.
DD
I smile for my license and my health card (Canadian!) but we are not allowed to smile for our passports! We look like the sad family....
I don't think TN has gotten up to speed on the smiling or not thing. Semi-smile!
A few years ago, my daughter lost her ID-wallet-keyring somewhere on her college campus. She called & I took her to one of the License Stations in Nashville. She had her bookbag with her, but nothing with her ID. The lady kept telling her that she had to have some form of ID before she could get a replacement license. We finally found a letter from the University that was address to her. That was the only thing to verify that she was who she said she was. (Same address as mine.) After filling out the paperwork & MOM paying for it, the clerk was ready to take her picture. The lady asked, "do want a new picture or the one on file?" If they had just looked on the computer in the first place! When we got home, there was a phone message saying that her ID-keyring was in the Art Dept office & that she could get it the next day! GRRR!!!
I lived in Bloomington IN for a few years in the mid 90s (J was in grad school) and I definitely remember the written part (I passed, yay) but not the no-smiling part, guess that's new. And yes, I usually smile but I think that has downgraded to a smirk in recent years LOL.
I just looked at my license...yes, I did smile :o) With all the technology today you'd think they could come up with better software! (Oh yeah, it's the government...probably a rule by a "Czar".
Mom
where did she move in Indiana, maybe I could steal her as a friend since I live her in NE Indiana near Fort Wayne..Anyways your post made me laugh, my license expired in April, but it is a good picture with me smiling I STILL have not gotten a new one because I CANT smile, how bad is that, think the policeman would understand?
In that case I am keeping my pic forever! Yes, I smiled in mine. I was 16 and they took a series of three photos and let me pick the best one. I was going to say, is the reason they don't let you smile because they know you won't be smiling when you get pulled over? Because in that case my ID photo should show me freaking out and crying, since that's what I'd look like at the time.
But everyone cleared it up with the facial recognition.
Oh yes, I am smiling on my license. But, when I went to Sam's to get my passport photo done last year, they said that a smiling pic would not be accepted, so I look like a mean tourist! When I went to turn in my passport app to the post office, they laughed and said that you could smile. grrrrrrr...
Maybe they don't want her smiling because you certainly wouldn't be smiling if pulled over and they need a realistic shot! LOL!
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