RALEIGH (AP) ó North Carolina drivers under the age of 21: Your licenses just got makeovers.
The Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday began printing the first vertically formatted licenses and state IDs for residents under the legal drinking age. State officials and lawmakers pushed for the change earlier this year to help bartenders and clerks easily identify underage customers.
Olivia Mitchell of Winston-Salem was the among the first residents to get a vertical license at a DMV facility in Raleigh. She said she understood why lawmakers wanted to make underage residentsí IDs easily distinguishable, and said she didnít think many of her peers have heard about the new format.
Drivers who hold horizontal licenses donít have to get new ones.