Policy

No Smiling at the New Jersey DMV

It messes with their facial recognition software

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With its infamous long lines, going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get your license is usually nothing to smile about. These days, it's a mandatory no-big-smiles policy in New Jersey, one of a growing list of states that tell drivers drivers to keep a poker face in their license photos.

Since February, New Jersey motorists have had to maintain neutral expressions on their faces for photographs because of new face-recognition software. Exaggerated facial expressions, like smiling widely, can confuse this software, which is intended to catch fraud, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.