"There was an opportunity to accelerate the installation schedule, and we took advantage of that opportunity," said MVC Chief Administrator Sharon Harrington. "It's vital that our customers have a secure license as quickly as possible," she said.
MVC began issuing DDLs on January 20th, when the Trenton Regional Service Center became the first facility to issue the high-tech documents to the public.
Last Monday, MVC issued its 250,000th digital license. The DDL is replacing the old nonphoto paper licenses and laminated photo licenses, which were considered easy to duplicate.
"This is yet another milestone in our ongoing reform of MVC," said Gov. James E. McGreevey, who signed the Motor Vehicle Security and Customer Service Act in January 2003 that mandated reform of the old Division of Motor Vehicles.
This month, MVC began notifying customers that they will no longer be able to renew their driver licenses by mail in order to receive the old nonphoto license. Since MVC gives its customers three months' notice, the July renewals are the first to be notified of the policy change. Eventually, all 5.7 million licensed New Jersey drivers will have a digital license.