It’s been reported that the electronic scanners at airports’ TSA security checkpoints are having difficult with select driver’s licenses of, now, a third state. This time it’s not the TSA’s fault, but the state’s. And what’s worse, the state doesn’t plan to do anything about it.
First it was Colorado
Back in February 2022, it was discovered that several driver’s licenses issued in Colorado over the previous year or so were not scanning correctly at TSA checkpoints. The problem turned out to be within the TSA’s software. They fixed it, and the problem (mostly) went away.
Then it was Arizona
In 2023, some people in Arizona were having issues with their driver’s licenses scanning. It wasn’t just at TSA checkpoints, but also when they tried to rent cars. Arizona representatives said the glitch wasn’t a large scale issue and suggested affected people request a new driver’s license.
Now it’s Florida
Scott Maxwell, an editorial writer for the Orlando Sentinel, recently wrote an article about Florida driver’s licenses. Apparently, the bar codes on some licenses haven’t been printed clearly, which meant the scanners can’t scan them. He also suggests that similar to the problem with the poorly made Arizona driver’s licenses, some businesses (car rental companies, pharmacies, bars, etc.) can’t read them, either.
Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles agrees there’s a problem (one Florida official said it’s been a known issue “for several years now”), but it’s “infrequent.”
How infrequent?
Meanwhile, IDScan.net says the problem harkens back to 2017 or so, and it’s caused by the barcode on the back of the driver’s license being blurry. After multiple years, the vendor making the errant driver’s licenses eventually made a fix to their software. But IDScan.net approximates that somewhere between 1-1.5% of all driver’s licenses have the issue.
By the way, the state has issued more than 16 million licenses. So just somewhere between 160,000 and 240,000 people. No big deal, right? #sigh
What are they going to do about it?
Apparently, nothing. Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says they have no plans to make changes.
From IDScan.net: “Because Florida IDs are good for 8 years, and this issue has been found on IDs as early as 2017 and as recently as 2023, we expect that this issue will persist until at least 2030.”
According to Maxwell, spokesperson Molly Best says that Floridians with bad driver’s licenses “can go to the closest DMV and their license will be scanned and reissued at no charge.” Well, except for when they ARE charged. Isn’t THAT special… #rolleyes
Human error is most definitely a thing. But as the world become more and more “one” with computerization of virtually everything, we see more and more how screwed up things can become when we can’t do it “the old fashioned way.”
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