<\/p>\n
Senior Vice President Missy Pearcy demonstrates the copy machine used to record the driver\u2019s license at Pegasus Bank in Dallas, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Missy Pearcy has a beef with the new Texas driver\u2019s license.<\/a><\/p>\n Not the price. Not the security features. Not even the hassle of getting one.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As vice president of Pegasus Bank in Dallas, she asks customers to show their ID on almost every transaction. But the size of the information, especially, the date of birth, is half the size from the previous design.<\/p>\n The font has shrunk so much that when she scans a check, she has to increase the resolution by 50% to read it.<\/p>\n She calls the new design<\/a> \u201ca disaster.\u201d She wonders how traffic cops and bar bouncers manage.<\/p>\n Her proposed solution is simple: Change it.<\/p>\n As she told The Watchdog, \u201cThe font used is too thin and narrow to be read without enlarging the view greatly. The colors \u2014 browns and grays \u2014 are quite muted and unattractive.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI would strongly support a revision of the design as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n She asked me \u201cWho is responsible for approving this new design? And is there any hope of getting it changed?\u201d<\/p>\n The first question is easy enough to answer. The Texas Department of Public Safety <\/a>is responsible. The agency released the new design in August 2025.<\/p>\n The second? Don\u2019t hold your breath. DPS<\/a> issues millions of these licenses and ID cards. A redesign seems unlikely.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what DPS<\/a> spokesperson Sheridan\u00a0Nolen told me: \u00a0The driver\u2019s license and ID cards follow standards and rules set by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators<\/a>. Texas complies with these national standards.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThese standards balance readability with … fraud-prevention,\u201d Nolen said.<\/p>\n New features<\/p>\n I find one new feature a bit baffling. It\u2019s a unique addition to the new license design. I\u2019ll get to that in a moment. First, I want to take a look at the security features.\u00a0<\/p>\n The cards are made of\u00a0polycarbonate, a material designed to make them difficult to tamper with or reproduce. The REAL ID star in the upper-right corner is no longer gold. It\u2019s now white on black and laser-engraved.<\/p>\n Other changes I noticed: the Texas flag is gone. In its place, a herd of horses runs along the bottom.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Transparency\u00a0<\/p>\n Now about that new feature that\u2019s a bit baffling.<\/p>\n When my new license arrived in the mail, the first thing I noticed was an outline of Texas, about three-quarters of an inch tall. It\u2019s transparent, so hold the card up to the light and you can see through it.<\/p>\n Inside that transparent Texas there\u2019s a tiny version of my photo.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never seen anything like that on an ID card.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n DPS gives this feature a name that sounds like it was generated by a committee of engineers:<\/p>\n \u201cDynamic Look Through Element with Optical Variable Material with UV.\u201d<\/p>\n But I have to admit: If you\u2019re trying to counterfeit the card, that little see-through Texas \u2014 with your face hiding inside it \u2014 is going to make your task considerably more difficult.<\/p>\n Yo, criminals: Good luck reproducing that. Oh, and let us not forget the underage drinkers, too.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior Vice President Missy Pearcy demonstrates the copy machine used to record the driver\u2019s license at Pegasus Bank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-439932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n