According to a recent NJ. com report, a new policy which has been instituted by New Jersey requires the driver's license applicants to smile only as much as has been shown on the sample license because bigger smiles can apparently confuse the facial recognition software being used by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The policy - which makes another unpleasant addition to the already tedious driver's license process in New Jersey - took effect in January, but has largely remained unnoticed thus far.

Under the policy, New Jersey chiefly bans the motorists from grinning in their photos for the driving license because a big-smile expression does not work with the facial recognition software the state has invested in this year.

With the mentioned software clearly disallowing the New Jersey driver's license applicants to refrain from expressing their inner happiness while having their driver's license pictures clicked, Philly. com has pointed out that such software is being used by DMVs to grab hold of those driver's license applicants who might have assumed somebody else's identity to create a fake ID.

Noting that New Jersey's no-big-smile policy for driver's license applicants has chiefly been instituted with the aim of catching imposters, Mike Horan - a spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission - told The Inquirer: "To get an accurate photo, you don't want an excessively expressive face in the photo."