Ohio’s driver’s education law has changed

By Megan Henry/Ohio Capital Journal

A new law took effect in Ohio this week that requires everyone under 21 to complete driver’s education training before getting their license. 

Ohio’s law previously only required those age 17 and younger to go through driver’s training — meaning those 18 and older were previously able to skip the training and simply apply for a driver’s license. 

Under the new law, Ohio drivers younger than 21 will be required to complete driver’s education training in order to get a driver’s license, which includes 24 hours of education in the classroom and eight hours with an instructor on the road. 

“We know that a driver is safer if they’ve had driver’s training,” Governor Mike DeWine said during a press conference Monday.

This new law came out of Ohio’s two-year state operating budget DeWine signed into law in July. 

“What is happening is a number of teenagers didn’t ever get driver’s training,” DeWine said. “We know inexperience is really the number one killer, the number one cause of crashes.” 

Nearly 60 percent of at-fault teen drivers were 18 to 19 years old at the time of fatal traffic crashes in 2024, according to the Ohio’s Teen Crash Dashboard. Nearly 100 teen-related fatal crashes were reported in 2024 and the teen driver was at fault in 67 of those crashes. 70 percent of those were the fault of the teen driver, according to the state data. 

DeWine’s daughter Becky died in a car crash in 1993 when she was 22. 

Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson, a former prosecutor, said he has been called to the scene of many fatal car crashes. 

“I’ve stood over bodies of young drivers at crashes, and there’s nothing that fills the loss … in someone’s life who’s lost someone dramatically and unexpectedly,” he said.

“We believe that this change … will, in fact, save a lot of lives,” he said. 

It is expected to affect about 36,000 people in Ohio every year, according to Judy Converse, spokesperson for the Ohio Traffic Safety Office. 

Wilson said a teenager’s crash risk drops when they get the right training and practice.

“Just because you can pass the driver’s desk when you’re 18 doesn’t mean you’re a good driver,” Wilson said. “That test is kind of a bare minimum threshold to get you out on the road.” 

Most driver’s schools charge about $100 for 24 hours of classroom instruction and then it’s another $300-400 for the eight hours behind the wheel with an instructor, according to Converse.

“We know, without a doubt, that a barrier to driver’s education is the cost,” Wilson said. 

DeWine and Wilson both support putting driver’s education back in schools as a non-mandatory elective.

“We think that driver’s ed in school makes sense,” DeWine said. “It is more convenient. We think that’s very, very important.”

Some Ohio schools have driver’s education courses, but many schools dropped those classes in the 1990s. Capacity is an issue when it comes to having enough driver’s education courses, Wilson said. 

“If you try to get your kid in driver’s ed, you have to wait a little while,” Wilson said. “An easy answer is to put driver’s ed back in the schools where we’re making you take an elective instead of study hall.”