Drivers License

Once you have your birth certificate you can run down to the Department of Motor Vehicles and land a drivers license. The respect given to a drivers license as positive identification is astonishing, even comforting, though by no means is it justified by the evidence. The drivers license is almost universally demanded when cashing checks, which is why check artists always have a license at the ready. I've known people who offered their passports with recent photos as proof of their identification and had them turned down in favor of the drivers license. And passports contain more thorough information and are more expensive and harder to obtain than a drivers license.

There is some justification for the affinity for drivers licenses. In most states a drivers license is the only thing a person carries in the way of identification that has his photograph on it, although some states use a thumb print. Clerks in stores are trained to ask for a drivers license and only a drivers license when cashing checks. So few people in the U.S. have passports that offering one only confuses the help.

From a professional identification man's point of view, a thumb print is a far better method of establishing an identity than a photograph. But for the shopkeeper who doesn't have the time or technical ability to compare prints, the photograph is the best basis for swapping his merchandise for a piece of paper. In fact, the drivers license is such a popular piece of ID that many states issue non-drivers licenses. While it really isn't a "license" at all, since it doesn't permit the holder to do anything, it is useful and readily accepted as a form of personal identification.

As far as ruses go, there are many more reasons for not having a drivers license late in life than a social security number. Many people simply don't have the money together to buy a car until they get up in their years. Another very rational explanation is that you've been living in New York, where a person would have to be insane to drive regularly. If you really want to do it up right, you could enroll in drivers education through one of the many schools that offer this service. When you finish the course, most schools will hand you a diploma to show the DMV people. Some schools will even have someone accompany you personally through your tests, or the DMV will send out an officer to test all the graduates at the school.

Along with your birth certificate you will want to bring a couple letters addressed to you as proof of your residence. It should be easy enough to arrange for them to show your mail drop address rather than your actual residence. But if you're like most disappearees, you won't have much use for your drivers license other than as identification, at least immediately. That's because it's foolish to take your old car with you into your new identity, as previously explained. Also, traffic violations are the downfall of many an identity changer not yet comfortable in their new life and ill-prepared for the probing questions of the traffic cop.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 913