Vertical licenses proposed for youth

They are meant to curb alcohol sales raise concern

To keep from selling alcohol to underage buyers, North Carolina store clerks may have to start looking at driver's licenses in a whole new way -- vertically.

Under a proposal being considered by state legislators, drivers under 21 would get vertical licenses meant to be held longways. The goal is to make it easier for clerks to tell quickly when someone is under age.

Twenty-one other states have put this twist on driver's licenses, and the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force, a legislative study commission, wants North Carolina to join them.

State driver's licenses are now color-coded in a red-yellow-green system that signals to clerks when buyers are old enough to buy tobacco products (over 18) and alcohol (over 21). Stores also have a variety of calendars, notices and cash register gadgets intended to prevent underage sales.

But vendors still sell to minors. In fact, state Alcohol Law Enforcement surveys have shown that more than half the clerks who check IDs from underage buyers still sell them alcohol.

Such statistics indicate "a problem with those vendors accurately reading the IDs," said Selena Childs, the task force's executive director. Turnover for cash register clerks is high, and some may not be on the job long enough to be trained or to get used to existing safeguards.

The task force proposes to keep the color code and to add verticality. It would cost $50,000 for the necessary software changes to produce vertical licenses.

"Anything that we can do to cut back on underage sales, we're for," said William C. Chandler, division director of state ALE.

As in other states, trade associations and safety advocates seem to like the idea.

"It would be easier to card people," said Gary Harris, executive director of the N.C. Petroleum and Convenience Marketers.

Rep. Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican and bill sponsor, said the DMV commissioner and Pediatric Society support the change. "Once a year, I work on a bill I hope will save lives, and this is that one," Folwell said.

Some young adults aren't sure vertical licenses would do much to reduce underage alcohol purchases, because it wouldn't affect a much-used-tool -- the fake ID.

"Fake IDs are going to be horizontal," said Alexander Leonard, a 21-year-old N.C. State University student. Thus, underage buyers would automatically look older by having a horizontal ID.

"The fact that the real ones are going to be vertical won't make a difference, I don't think."