Ohio Administrative Code
Title 4501 - Department of Public Safety - Administration and Director
Chapter 4501-7 - Commercial Driver Training Schools
Section 4501-7-01 - Definitions

(A) "Armed forces" means the armed forces of the United States, including the army, navy, air force, marine corps, coast guard, or any reserve components of those forces; the national guard of any state; the commissioned corps of the United State public health service; the merchant marine service during wartime; such other service as may be designated by congress; or the Ohio organized militia when engaged in full-time national guard duty for a period of more than thirty days.

(B) "Applicant" or "candidate" means any person applying for a license to be an authorizing official for a driver training school, an instructor, an online instructor, or a training manager.

(C) "Asynchronous" means education not occurring at the same time nor in real time with a live instructor.

(D) "Authorizing official" or "official" means any person who owns or who maintains responsibility on behalf of an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, or an association for the facilities, equipment, instructors, managers and other employees of a driver training enterprise or an enterprise providing online driver education.

(E) "Beginning driver" or "beginning student" means any person being trained to drive a particular class of motor vehicle who has not been previously licensed to drive that motor vehicle by any state or country.

(F) "Behind-the-wheel instruction" means that portion of a driver training course which is devoted to teaching a student driving skill, provided to a student who is operating an approved motor vehicle, and presented by a licensed instructor.

(G) "Biometric authentication" means the verification of a user's identity by means of a physical trait or behavioral characteristic.

(H) "Certificate of completion" means a certificate electronically furnished by the department to a licensed driver training enterprise and issued by the enterprise to students under age eighteen who have completed the required twenty-four hours of classroom instruction, or equivalent online instruction, and eight hours of behind-the-wheel instruction to the satisfaction of the school's authorizing official or training manager as required by division (C) of section 4508.02 of the Revised Code.

(I) "Certificate of completion of an online driver education program" means a certificate electronically furnished by the department to a licensed driver training enterprise and issued by the enterprise to students under the age of eighteen who have completed the online equivalent of the required twenty-four hours of classroom instruction.

(J) "Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist" means a person certified through the association of driver rehabilitation specialists (ADED) and who plans, develops, coordinates, and implements driver rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities.

(K) "Chargeable crash" means a conviction of, a guilty plea to, a finding of guilty following a plea of no contest to, or the forfeiture of any bail or collateral deposited to secure an appearance for a moving traffic violation as a result of a motor vehicle crash.

(L) "Class D license school" means any school training students in the operation of motor vehicles for class "D" operator's licenses as defined in Chapter 4507. of the Revised Code.

(M) Class "D" operators are licensed instructors who teach any part of a curriculum, including classroom, and behind-the-wheel instruction, or who provide curriculum support for an online driver training enterprise; for the operation of motor vehicles to persons learning to operate a passenger vehicle.

(N) "Classroom" means any room within a driver training school used to teach students driver knowledge.

(O) "Classroom instruction" means that portion of a driver training course that is devoted to teaching driver knowledge and provided in a physical classroom location. Classroom instruction does not include the student's operation of a motor vehicle.

(P) "Commercial driver license" or "CDL" means a license issued in accordance with Chapter 4506. of the Revised Code that authorizes an individual to drive a commercial motor vehicle.

(Q) "Commercial motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle designed or used to transport persons or property that meets the qualifications listed in divisions (E) and (D) of section 4506.01 of the Revised Code.

(R) "Current textbook or workbook" means a book published within the past ten years containing information for safe and responsible driver practices and used as part of an approved driver training curriculum.

(S) "Department" means the "Ohio Department of Public Safety."

(T) "Director" means the director of the "Ohio Department of Public Safety" as set forth in division (G) of section 121.03 of the Revised Code, or the director's designee.

(U) "Disqualifying offense" has the same meaning as in section 9.79 of the Revised Code.

(V) "Driver education," "theory," or "theory instruction" means that portion of a driver training course that is devoted to teaching driver knowledge and does not include the student's operation of a motor vehicle. See also "classroom instruction," "virtual classroom," and "online driver education program."

(W) "Driver training" means that portion of a driver training course which is devoted to teaching a student driving skill, provided to a student who is operating an approved motor vehicle, and presented by a licensed instructor. (Also known as "behind-the-wheel instruction.")

(X) "Driver training course" or "training program" means a course consisting of classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel training or an online driver education program offered by a driver training school, as defined in paragraph (Y) of this rule.

(Y) "Driver license" or "operator license" means a class D license issued to any person to operate a motor vehicle, other than a commercial motor vehicle, including a "probationary license" or a "restricted license" as defined in division (A) of section 4507.01 of the Revised Code.

(Z) "Driver training school" or "school" means each facility where a driver training course is conducted. A driver training school includes:

(AA) "Dual control brake" means two devices in a single motor vehicle, either of which will safely stop the motor vehicle. One device shall be a brake operated by the driver of the motor vehicle. The second device shall be a brake that can be operated by the front seat passenger of the motor vehicle.

(BB) "Enterprise," "driver training enterprise," or "business enterprise" means a person, as defined in section 1.59 of the Revised Code, who operates a school, as defined in this chapter, for the training of persons in the operation of motor vehicles using public streets or highways or an online driver education program.

(CC) "Instructor" means any person, whether acting for self as operator of a driver training school or for such a school, who teaches, conducts classes of, gives demonstrations to, or supervises practice of, persons learning to operate or drive motor vehicles.

(DD) "In-person learning" means a form of instructional interaction that occurs in real time between instructors and students. This includes instructional interaction that allows people to interact from different locations at the same time.

(EE) "Manager's course" means a course of instruction designated by the director to train driver training school authorizing officials and training managers to instruct a school's instructors and to administer the operations of a school or driver training enterprise.

(FF) "Occupational therapist" means a person who is license or holds a limited permit to practice occupational therapy and who offers such services to the public under any title incorporating the words "occupational therapy," "occupational therapist," or similar title or description of services as defined in section 4755.04 of the Revised Code.

(GG) "Office" means a room used for conducting school business and storing school records which meets the requirements specified in rule 4501-7-02 of the Administrative Code.

(HH) "Online driver education program" means a licensed driver training course that is the equivalent to in-person classroom instruction approved by the director and offered by an online provider. An online driver education program shall not be offered by driver training schools providing instruction for obtaining commercial driver's licenses.

(II) "Online instructor" means a person who is available for curriculum content support for those students enrolled in an online driver education program. Curriculum content support may be provided through, but is not limited to, open forums, message boards, chat rooms, telephone support, or e-mail correspondences.

(JJ) "Online provider" means a business that provides an asynchronous online program of classroom instruction via the internet for the training of persons to operate Class "D" vehicles, including a driver training school as defined in paragraph (Z)(2) of this rule.

(KK) "Original school application" means an application and all required supporting documents submitted by an enterprise or lead school district for a school that has not previously been licensed to operate a driver training school at that location, or an application for renewal received or postmarked after November thirtieth in a given calendar year for renewal of the school license for the calendar year which begins the following January first.

(LL) "Original instructor or training manager application" means an application and all required documents for a license for an instructor or training manager that is submitted by a person who has not previously been licensed as a driver training instructor or training manager, or an application for renewal of a person's driver training instructor or training manager license that is received by the director after December thirty-first in the calendar year that occurs one year after the date of expiration of the last license issued to that person.

(MM) "Ownership" means the legal right of possession; proprietorship.

(NN) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, or association as defined in section 1.59 of the Revised Code.

(OO) "Person with a disability" or "disabled person" means any person who, in the opinion of the registrar of motor vehicles, is afflicted with or suffering from a physical or mental disability or disease that prevents the person, in the absence of special training or equipment, from exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor vehicle while operating the vehicle upon the highways. A person with a disability is not a person who is or who has been subject to any condition resulting in episodic impairment of consciousness or loss of muscular control and whose condition, in the opinion of the registrar, is dormant or is sufficiently under medical control that the person is capable of exercising reasonable and ordinary control over a motor vehicle. A student who is deaf is not a person with a disability for purposes of this chapter.

(PP) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine or surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery under Chapter 4731. of the Revised Code.

(QQ) "Range" or "driving range" means an off-highway site designed for training motor vehicle drivers that does not permit public traffic to pass through the site, except that ranges for commercial motor vehicles may include only other vehicles being used in training. The range of a CDL driver training school is a closed-course facility that enables drivers to maneuver safely and is free from the interference of other hazards.

(RR) "Residence" means any dwelling used or occupied as living quarters, whether or not on a full-time basis. A residence does not include an unattached structure upon a residential property that has a separate means of ingress and egress.

(SS) "Synchronous" means education occurring at the same time and in real time.

(TT) "Training manager" or "manager" means a person designated by an authorizing official of a driver training enterprise to carry out orders, instruct, conduct the business and manage the training program of a school, and assess and supervise current and candidate instructors.

(UU) "Teacher's driving institute" means any educational institute operated or sponsored by a college or university for the purpose of training instructors in the field of driver education and training which offers credit hours or a certificate for satisfactory completion of a course that is comparable to the training provided by the department.

(VV) "Route sheet", as it applies to class "D" instruction, means a map or list of specific roads taken during a given behind-the-wheel lesson.

(WW) "Commercial driver license school" or "CDL school" means any school training students to operate a commercial motor vehicle for purposes of obtaining a class "A", "B", or "C" commercial driver licenses as defined in Chapter 4506. of the Revised Code.

(XX) "Virtual classroom" means a synchronous online classroom that allows participants to communicate with one another, view presentations and/or videos, interact with other participants and instructor, and engage with resources, and engage in work groups, all in real time.

(YY) "Private certification" means authorization from a private organization to an individual who meets qualifications determined by the organization related to the performance of a profession, occupation, or occupational activity and by which the individual may hold the individual's self out as certified by the organization.