State to temporarily shut down driver’s license system

Published 5:00 pm Monday, April 21, 2014

The state’s driver’s license system will be temporarily shut down April 28-29 for system upgrades.

“This shutdown will affect all of Alabama,” Chilton County Probate Judge Bobby Martin said. “This is not just for Chilton County. The state switched to a new driver’s license system a while back, and there were a lot of problems with the machines so now they are updating the software.”

The systems will be down April 28- 29 for a database conversion, and the shutdown will also include online services.

Martin said anyone who might need to renew his or her driver’s license during the time period of the shutdown will not receive a penalty over the two days for not renewing the license.

“They will just have to wait until everything gets up and running again, but they won’t receive a penalty,” Martin said.

The Alabama Department of Public Safety announced on Monday that the shutdown is an effort to comply with federal regulations.

During the shutdown, driver’s license examining offices across the state will be unable to issue, renew or reinstate licenses and non-driver identification cards.

In addition, access to motor vehicle records (MVRs) and Alabama Uniform Crash Reports will be offline.