The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) today announced it will begin issuing new driver licenses, permits and identification cards featuring the latest in card security design and construction specifically intended to combat fraud.

“I am proud to announce the implementation of the most secure credential in our great state’s history,” said DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin in a press release. “Our new licenses and IDs will be among the most secure identifying documents in the world.”

The state’s new credential is a 100 percent polycarbonate card that is personalized using laser engraving technology. Because of its composition, the card will not only look different, it will also feel and sound different.

The card will feel stiffer and have both embossed and debossed patterns and lettering on the surface of the card. When dropped onto a tabletop, it will make a unique metallic sound.

The new card design showcases imagery familiar to North Carolinians, with hints of blue and green specifically chosen to correspond with well-known state attributes such as its rolling hills and abundant nature.

The card front includes the state’s flower – the dogwood, the state flag, state border outline, a marbled salamander and a lighthouse, all at the forefront of the rolling hills in the west. The card back includes the Colonial Spanish mustang grazing along one of North Carolina’s many beaches in the east.

These design elements are among more than 50 security features used to assist law enforcement in the deterrence and detection of fraud.

The new card design will be put into production later this week as the current design is being phased out by the end of June. Current licenses and ID cards will remain valid until their expiration date.

More information and additional images of credentials can be viewed here.