Dear Editor,

I write this letter absolutely stunned, dismayed and frankly flabbergasted after recently renewing my driver’s license only to discover that it now includes my weight on an official form of identification. For everyone from police officers to potential ID checkers to see.

While I understand the relevance of including height and eye colour for identification purposes, I’m struggling to comprehend the logic behind recording a person’s weight, a number that fluctuates weekly, even daily, based on health, time of day, diet and so many other variables. It's not a fixed marker of identity nor is it reliable for verification. So, who in their wisdom decided this deeply personal, often sensitive and sometimes embarrassing detail should be printed on a document we carry with us every day?

Weight is not only medically private, it is also tied to self-esteem, mental health and body image issues. Including it on a driver’s license feels unnecessarily invasive and even shaming. For many people, including myself, seeing that number printed on a government-issued ID is nothing short of mortifying.

Is this truly a necessary piece of information for the Land Transport Authority to display? Is it helping identify drivers more effectively, or are we crossing into territory that disregards dignity for the sake of bureaucratic thoroughness?

I strongly urge the Land Transport Authority to reconsider this misguided policy and remove weight from the driver's license format. Let’s focus on what's relevant to being on the road and leave the scales out of it.

Angelynne Enoka