Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A Brief History of NYS Driver's Licenses

Did you know that among workers age 16 and over in the Utica-Rome MSA (think Herkimer and Oneida Counties) nearly 90% drive or carpool to work every day ? That's nearly 120,000 people on our roads heading to work !

New York first required paper licenses back in 1903, but only for chauffeurs. It wasn't until 1918 that regular drivers also had to have an actual paper drivers license to be legal on the roadway in New York!

The New York Times has an interesting short piece showing this history with pictures and samples of how drivers licenses have changed over the last 110 years. To see how our licenses have changed, visit their article on  Evolution of Licenses. And drive safe !