When traveling abroad, most countries require visitors to carry their passports with them at all times. REQUIRE being the operative word. But most visitors to First World countries never come in contact with police during their travels so usually don't bother with this. But in many Third World countries, one finds themselves at police roadblocks just about every time you get on a long distance bus or on highways between larger cities, and I've seen quite a few tourists taken off buses and out of rental cars and detained because they couldn't produce their passports, especially in S.E. Asia.
I have no doubt that these tourists became angry over the 'police state' behavior being shown to them, interrupting their idyllic vacations 'for no good reason,' never once considering the fact that they were breaking the law. A passport isn't a cement brick. It doesn't create a heavy weight in the pocket or take up valuable space in a shoulder bag. It can, however, keep your vacations (or your daily activities) running more smoothly. The new passport cards don't take up any more room in a wallet than a department store point card nor does a driver's license weigh down your pockets. The police in EVERY country require one to carry a driver's license when you are behind the wheel. If you get pulled over and don't have one, you pay the price for breaking that law.
Personally, I don't care for these laws. I don't like the
idea of being 'required' to carry an identification card at all times. And we tend to get upset that the police require us to do so, but don't get upset that we are required to produce them (or even two of them!) when cashing a check at the supermarket! (For some reason, that's OK...
)
There are no fail-safe measures these days to insure that the cards are legitimate. With a bit of computer skill, PhotoShop and a good printer and laminator, a highschool kid can make what 'looks like' legitimate identification cards in 15 minutes. But the fact is, the law requires us to carry them in many different situations. Don't get angry if you are the one caught breaking the law. Like 'Baretta' used to say; "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
Stitchawl