Age Proof Considered
For Driving Licenses

    Youthful applicants for District driving licenses may be required to present proof they have reached their 18th birthday, the minimum age for regular issuance of licenses, Motor Vehicle Director George A. England said yesterday.
    England said he was contemplating this action as a result of the discovery last week that a District license had been issued to a juvenile boy who had passed himself off as 18 when applying for a driver's permit.
    The youth, Richard E. Smithey, 17, of 1350 Congress St. se., was arrested Thursday with Ronald F. Wynkoop, 17, of Clinton, Md., in the rifle slaying of Harry H. Tolson Jr., 21, shortly after midnight Wednesday in the 1100 block of I St. Se.
    Smithey, first identified by Metropolitan Police as an adult from the age on his driving license, was placed in District Jail but later was transferred to the Receiving Home when his father, Navy Comdr. Lemuel Smithey, produced papers indicating the boy was but 17 years old.
    England said under current policy it has been left to the discretion of Motor Vehicle Department examiners to question the age of young applicants.
    "We may well have to require 18-year-olds to present birth certificates or other proof of their age now," England said.
    The District now issues driving permits at age 16 to applicants who have their parents' consent and have been cleared through Juvenile Bureau authorities.
    England said the age limit for issuance of regular licenses is 18 also in Maryland and Virginia. Maryland will issue licenses at age 16 to applicants having parental consent, while Virginia issues junior licenses at age 15 to youngsters who have parental consent and clearance through juvenile authorities.
    Meanwhile, District Coroner A. Magruder MacDonald has scheduled an inquest into the killing of Tolson for 11 a. m. Wednesday at the District Morgue. Wynkoop, charged with firing the fatal shots, is being held in a special section of the District jail.
    Police said the shooting stemmed from a quarrel between Smithey and Tolson involving Tolson's 16-year-old fiance and that Smithey gave Wynkoop the rifle used in the shooting.

Source:

Unknown, "Age Proof Considered For Driving Licenses," Washington Post and Times Herald, Washington, D.C., Monday, 17 October, 1960, p. B1.