The Ministry of Transportation requires DriveTest to collect and input male (M) or female (F) in order to create a driving record and generate a driver’s licence number. If you are providing documents that are gender neutral or have no gender indicated, you will be required to self-declare M or F at the time of your driver’s licence application.
- So the Ontario Driver's License number is encoded in the. I'm asking about the driver's document number, the bold 15 alphanumeric number.
- Enhanced driver's licence An enhanced driver's licence is an upgrade to an Ontario driver's licence that can be used as a travel document between Canada and the United States of America when travelling by road or water.
Ontario's Driver's License Number Format/Encoding
So I've done some research on Ontario's driver's license format numbers. When I first got my license DriveTest asked to confirm my name and date of birth about 5 times. It turns out that your entire driver's license number is encoded using your information, as follows:
LLLLL-FFFMY-YMMDD, where
LLLLL is the encoding for your first name. The first L is the first letter of your last name, while the remaining Ls are numerical encodings of your last name. Quebec and New Jersey uses the same encoding method. I believe that the first letter of your name is not encoded as it is already represented by a letter.
FFF is the numerical encoding for your first name. New Jersey uses the same encoding method. I have seen other people's licenses and believe that the first one or two letters are encoded as well as the last one or two, as I've seen people with different first names, but it starts with 2 of the same letters and ends with the same 2 letters and it is encoded the same way.
M is the numerical encoding for your middle name (0 is no middle name).
YY is your year of birth.
MM is your month of birth for males. For females, it's your month of birth +50.
DD is your day of birth.
So the question is, do any of you know how the last name (LLLLL), first name (FFF) and middle name (M) is encoded? This format, as far as I know, has been in use for 20+ years. Also the encoding seems somewhat linear, because I've always seen 0s where there is an A in the name, and it seemed that the further the letter goes, the higher the number, but not always.
Some examples I've found online that I believe are real if you would like to help decode:
Documents Required For New Drivers License
