Proud to be a Senior Citizen? Really?

[dreamshark]

 If you are over 65 (and live in Minnesota) you may have noticed that the new Minnesota drivers licenses have the word "Senior" boldly stamped on the front. "What's up with that?" you may be wondering. If you try to find out online what that means, you won't learn much except that the new licenses have all sorts of dubious new signifiers that you might or might not want emblazoned on your main form of ID. WTF? I'm having a hard enough time figuring out why I want to be instantly identified as "elderly," but .... "H" for "Mental Health?" I'm guessing that means something more like, "Warning! I might be crazy"" rather than  "I am a paragon of mental and emotional balance."  

The closest I could find was a probing investigative article from the PiCK News (Pine County Knows News, doncha know?), which gives off distinct conspiracy theory vibes. But considering how hard it was for the reporter to find anybody in state government that could offer more than wild guesses as to the purpose of this designation, that's not completely ridiculous. 

Anyway, as I am preparing to renew my first Enhanced Driver's License I see that while the box for Senior designation is checked by default, it is possible to uncheck it when applying for renewal. 

Comments

[pameladean]

I just have a state I.D. card, and when it started saying "Senior," I no longer had to renew it. But of course it would be stark folly to do that with an actual driver's license. I do wonder what they're up to.

P.

[laramie]

I'm glad they have an option for unchecking the box. My license has a couple years before it's up for renewal, though.

[dreamshark]

I'm not saying that you SHOULD uncheck the box, just pointing it out. Although nobody has actually revealed a use (bad or good) for this designation, I did figure out what the "T" is for: reduced "senior citizen" bus fare on Metro Transit. I didn't see a specific checkbox for the "T" on the license application, but I do have it on my license. I suspect that you might have to select Senior to get the T.