(a) Any veteran who has been honorably discharged from any of the armed services of the United States and who has a service-connected disability equivalent to the disabilities as prescribed in § 1 of Public Law 187 of the eighty-second congress, first session, and any person with a physical disability who possesses material incapacity for ambulation, shall be entitled to receive, and the department is authorized to issue, under such rules and upon such application as the department shall prescribe, a serially numbered certificate of identification for the personal use of the veteran or person with a physical disability.

(b) The veteran or person with a physical disability shall be entitled to courtesy in the parking of the automobile which shall relieve the veteran or person with a physical disability from liability for any violations with respect to parking, other than in violation of this section or § 55-8-160(a)(15).

(c) Any local authority may, by ordinance, prohibit parking on any street or highway for the purpose of creating a fire lane or to provide for the accommodation of heavy traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours, and the privileges extending to veterans and persons with physical disabilities in this section shall not apply on streets or highways where and at the times the parking is so prohibited.

(d) Any certificate issued as provided in this section shall be displayed prominently upon the automobile while being parked by or under the direction of the veteran or person with a physical disability pursuant to this section.

(e) Upon conviction of any offense involving a violation of the special privileges conferred upon holders of these special certificates, a magistrate or judge trying the case shall be authorized, as a part of any penalty imposed therein, to confiscate the serially numbered certificate provided for in this section and to return the certificate to the secretary of state, together with a certified copy of the sentence so imposed.

(f) Any person, other than the veteran or person with a physical disability to whom it was issued, who uses any certificate of identification for the purpose of parking an automobile as permitted by this section, commits a Class A misdemeanor.

(g) As to any application for a certificate, any official finding or rating as to disability within the requirements of this section by the United States veterans' administration shall be sufficient evidence of the qualifications of the applicant.

(h) As used in this section, “certificate” includes registration and license plates issued free to disabled veterans under the authority of § 55-4-256.