Ohio Senate Bill 249 and associate House Bill 392 are seeking to create a database at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles whereby persons could have the names and phone numbers of friends or relatives, or next of kin, on file in the event of serious or fatal accidents.
Participation in the program would be voluntary and free, registration being made at the time a person applies for his/her license plates, a driver’s license, or personal identification card; and the information accessible only to Bureau employees and law enforcement agencies.
In the construction of the database rules would be adopted so that the person could change information in his/her entry, and how it will be accessed (i.e., information included on driver’s license or via a second ID card). Provision is also included in the bill where in the event of an accident or other emergency in which a participant is killed, seriously injured, or rendered unconscious, law enforcement officials “shall make a good faith effort to notify the victim’s contact person, but neither the officer nor his agency shall incur any liability if that contact person cannot be reached.”
Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Illinois currently all have some sort of format whereby drivers may provide emergency contact information to law or public safety officials, Senator Keith Faber’s office, who sponsored the bill, reported. These aren’t singularly state-run projects, however. Florida & Pennsylvania, for example, provide links off of their state’s main page to the Next of Kin Registry, a non-profit, international, organization established in 2004. NOKR claims to be listed on more than 90% of all state websites as a resource for public & emergency agencies. ( More on Next-of-Kin Registry here)
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