Drivers License, Then and Now

The first driver's license ( or permit to drive) was issued to the inventor of the modern automobile, Karl Benz, in 1888.
He was required to have the license to drive his car because the citizens of Mannheim complained of the noise and the smell.
Benz requested and received this written permission by the Grand Ducal authorities to operate his car on public roads. Thus the birth of what we call a drivers license. But this license wasn't requires in the USA until August 1, 1910, after many automobile-related fatalities began to soared in North America. North America's first driver's licensing law went into effect in the U.S. state of New York, though it initially applied only to professional chauffeurs. The state of New Jersey became the first to require all drivers to pass a mandatory examination before receiving a license in July 1913. In the United States as well as some other countries that do not use national identification cards and because of the widespread use of cars, driver's licenses are often used as a de facto standard form of identification. Now we have to be of a certain age and pass a written and drivers test to obtain a license to drive. There are different test for different types of trucks and/or automobiles/vehicles that you must take to drive a vehicle other than a car/4 wheel truck.

On March 27, 2008, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that Washington's enhanced driver's license will be the first such license approved under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.
Enhanced licenses essentially combine a regular driver's license with the same specifications of the new Federal passport card. Thus in addition to proving driving privileges, the enhanced license also is proof of U.S. citizenship, and can therefore be used to cross the US-Canadian and US-Mexican borders by road, rail, or sea, but not by air. I expect this to eventually be in every state and every driver can obtain an Enhanced Drivers License.