Ohio Legislature Passes New GDL Law with Child Passenger Provision

On January 4, 2007, outgoing Governor Bob Taft signed Substitute House Bill 343, which makes several changes to the Ohio’s graduated driver’s licensing law.  The bill contained language that strengthened the state’s child passenger safety law, as well as making some common sense changes to protect new drivers and the public that shares the roads with them.  Before the bill was signed, Ohio had the dubious distinction of being the worst state in the nation for protecting child passengers.  Children who had not yet reached the age of 4 and 40 pounds in weight were required to be restrained in an appropriate child restraint; however, once children reached the age of 4 and were over 40 pounds in weight, there were no regulations governing child passengers in the rear seat of a vehicle.  While the bill still leaves much to be done to protect child passengers and young drivers, it is a wonderful and much needed start in making Ohio roads safer for children and families. The law takes effect April 6, 2007.

What’s changed

Substitute House Bill 343 closed the gap in the state’s previous occupant protection law by requiring all children aged 4 to 14 to be restrained; the fine for violating this provision of the law is $25.  The law had already mandated restraint use for children under the age of 4, for drivers, and for front seat passengers.  This change in the law is a big step forward in keeping children safe in motor vehicles.  In Ohio, as in the nation as a whole, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children over the age of 1 (and for all Ohioans up to age 34), yet 2 of every 3 child occupants aged 4 to 15 killed in motor vehicle crashes each year are not restrained in any way.  Making sure that all child passengers are appropriately restrained—in car seats for infants and toddlers, booster seats for children who have outgrown car seats but are too small for seat belts, and seat belts for older children, teens, and adults—is the best way of reducing the risk of injury or death in a crash. 

Sixteen- and seventeen-year-old drivers have higher crash rates per mile driven than any other age group.  Graduated driver’s licensing laws are designed to protect young drivers from high risk situations while they are learning and honing their driving skills.  Research has shown that the presence of teen passengers and driving late at night both significantly raise teens’ crash risk.  The new law prevents probationary license holders from having more than one non-family member as a passenger, unless a parent or guardian is present in the vehicle.  Probationary license holders under the age of 17 will not be permitted to drive between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.; for probationary license holders who are 17 years of age, the previous 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. ban remains in effect.

Additionally, Ohio law had previously stipulated that out-of-state drivers were not covered by Ohio’s child passenger safety or occupant protection laws; they were exempted from Ohio’s restraint laws as long as they were abiding by the laws of their home states.  Substitute House Bill 343 eliminates the non-resident exemption, meaning that all drivers on Ohio’s roads will have to comply with the state’s child passenger and occupant protection laws.

What next?

Substitute House Bill 343 takes some big steps forward in protecting child passengers and young drivers, yet Ohio still lags behind most other states in protecting motor vehicle occupants.  While the new law mandates that all rear seat passengers under the age of 15 must be properly restrained, the law pertaining to those aged 4 to 15 is secondary, as is the law regarding front seat passengers.  That means that police officers cannot stop a vehicle when they observe a breach of the law.  Instead, they may only ticket drivers for child restraint or occupant protection violations when they have observed another violation, such as speeding.  This severely hinders police officers’ ability to enforce the law and sends a message to drivers that occupant protection is not a particularly important issue.  While the bill strengthens the child restraint law in theory, it could still leave many children unprotected:  an officer could observe children standing in the rear seat of a vehicle, for example, but would be unable to do anything about it as long as the children look like they are over the age of 4 and the driver does not appear to be breaking any other laws.  Experience in states across the country have demonstrated that having a primary restraint law in place is the single most effective way to convince drivers to buckle up themselves and their passengers.  States with primary restraint laws have higher belt use rates—11% on average—than states with secondary laws.

Updated on: May 8, 2008