New driver's licenses include veteran's designation

 Starting Monday, LaRue County veterans could add a veteran’s insignia to their driver’s license.

LaRue County Circuit Clerk Larry Bell said the new law permitting the change went into effect July 12 but his office has only now received the upgrade.

Veterans should bring in a copy of their DD Form-214, the form they received when they were discharged from the military to receive the new license.

Any veteran who has renewed their license since July 12 can request a new license and it will be reprinted, Bell said.

The circuit clerk’s office will not issue driver’s licenses on Friday, Oct. 5 due to installation of new equipment. 

At that time, drivers can be noted as organ donors on their licenses. Bell said the equipment may be installed by 2 p.m. but anyone wanting a new license that day should call his office at 358-3421 before coming. 

The new licenses are similar in appearance to current licenses but contains security features.

“It was already time to replace the cameras and computer equipment – most of it more than 10 years old – that our circuit court clerks use in issuing driver’s licenses,” Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Vehicle Regulation Commissioner Tom Zawacki said. “That made it an ideal time to also make this transition to a new license.”

The new license has multiple layers of security features, all linked to each other, so counterfeiters must compromise multiple technologies – not just one.

The licenses’ new features include:

• Digital watermark imperceptible to the human eye.

• Bank note-level fine line printing

• Improved dual-side lamination for greater tamper resistance and durability

• Hologram with single-color, ultraviolet “ghost” image

Kentucky last updated driver’s licenses in 2001 with the introduction of digital licenses. The new format offered improved security. Kentucky was the first state to put the driver’s image in the bar code on the back of the license. With the next stage of Kentucky’s driver’s license, those security measures will be tightened to provide even greater resistance to fraud.

Installation of new cameras and computer equipment will require a one-day suspension of driver’s license processing at each circuit court clerk’s office. 

Customers are not required to obtain new licenses until their current licenses expire. The process for obtaining or renewing a driver license will not change. The cost of $20 will also remain the same.