Monday, April 02, 2007

Revisions to Ohio teenage driver laws

Ohio’s licensing laws for teenage drivers have been amended for the third time since their initial creation back in 1998, effective this coming Friday, April 6th.

An Enquirer article over the weekend related that Ohio “has had its problems with teenage drivers, ranking fifth in the nation—tied with Illinois—for fatal accidents involving 15-, 16-, and 17-years old drivers from 1995 thru 2004. That resulted in 1,173 deaths, according top the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.”

Most states have some form of “graduated driver licensing” designed to allow new drivers learn how to drive incrementally by controlling their progress toward full, unrestricted privilege. An overview of state laws and outline summary of the new Ohio law is available on the Ohio Teen Driver Coalition’s website.

The amendments in essence restrict drivers with “temporary” and “probationary” from being on the road between midnight and 6 a.m., and from having more than one person in the car with them who isn’t a family member, unless the driver’s parent or guardian is also in the car. Local authorities are apparently not going to pull teenage drivers over for infractions, but they will be secondary violations for other incidents involved in. (Ohio law)

See also “Nationwide Review of Graduate Driver Licensing

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