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Kiosks should help local drivers skip long lines

By Nathan Baker

Lunch-hour-gobbling wait times and miles of red tape will be in the rear view mirror if new automated driver’s license kiosks work as expected.

With the installation of 30 of the self-service stands statewide, including one in the clerk’s office at the Carter County Courthouse, the Tennessee Department of Safety hopes to reduce traffic at local Driver Services Centers and make license renewal less time-consuming.

The new touch screen system works similarly to the kiosks at many of the state’s service centers, but is equipped with a camera and can print out a temporary license until the driver receives his new one in the mail.

“It’s wonderful,” Patsy Lewis of the clerk’s office said Thursday. “It’s self-explanatory and is really convenient for people.”