Chapter 301: Definitions

Sections

Cross references

  • See sectional histories for similar State law
  • Funeral procession defined - see TRAF. 331.24
  • Street racing defined - see TRAF. 333.07
  • Studded tire defined - see TRAF. 339.11
  • Blind person defined - see TRAF. 371.02
  • Snowmobile and all purpose vehicle defined - see TRAF. 375.01
  • School zones defined - see TRAF. 333.03(b)

301.01   Meaning of words and phrases

The following words and phrases when used in this Traffic Code, except as otherwise provided, shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this chapter.

301.02   Agricultural tractor

“Agricultural tractor” means every self-propelling vehicle designed or used for drawing other vehicles or wheeled machinery but having no provision for carrying loads independently of such other vehicles, and used principally for agricultural purposes.
(ORC 4511.01(J))

301.03   Alley

“Alley” means a street or highway intended to provide access to the rear or side of lots or buildings in urban districts and not intended for the purpose of through vehicular traffic, and includes any street or highway that has been declared an “alley” by Council.
(ORC 4511.01(XX))

301.031   Beacon; hybrid beacon

  1. (a) “Beacon” means a highway traffic signal with one or more signal sections that operate in a flashing mode.
    (ORC 4511.01(KKK))

  2. (b) “Hybrid beacon” means a type of beacon that is intentionally placed in a dark mode between periods of operation where no indications are displayed and, when in operation, displays both steady and flashing traffic control signal indications.
    (ORC 4511.01(LLL))

301.04   Bicycle; motorized bicycle; moped; electric bicycle

  1. (a) “Bicycle” means every device, other than a device that is designed solely for use as a play vehicle by a child, that is propelled solely by human power upon which a person may ride, and that has two or more wheels, any of which is more than fourteen inches in diameter. (ORC 4511.01(G))

  2. (b) “Motorized bicycle” or “moped” means any vehicle having either two tandem wheels or one wheel in the front and two wheels in the rear, that may be pedaled, and that is equipped with a helper motor of not more than fifty cubic centimeters piston displacement that produces not more than one brake horsepower and is capable of propelling the vehicle at a speed of no greater than twenty miles per hour on a level surface.

    “Motorized bicycle” or “moped” does not include an electric bicycle.
    (ORC 4511.01(H))

  3. (c) “Electric bicycle” means a “class 1 electric bicycle”, a “class 2 electric bicycle”, or a “class 3 electric bicycle” as defined in this section.
    (ORC 4511.01(RRR))

    1. (1) “Class 1 electric bicycle” means a bicycle that is equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven hundred fifty watts that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of twenty miles per hour.
      (ORC 4511.01(SSS))

    2. (2) “Class 2 electric bicycle” means a bicycle that is equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven hundred fifty watts that may provide assistance regardless of whether the rider is pedaling and is not capable of providing assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of twenty miles per hour.
      (ORC 4511.01(TTT))

    3. (3) “Class 3 electric bicycle” means a bicycle that is equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than seven hundred fifty watts that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of twenty-eight miles per hour.
      (ORC 4511.01(UUU))

301.05   Bus

“Bus” means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than nine passengers and used for the transportation of persons other than in a ridesharing arrangement as defined in Ohio R.C. 4511.01, and every motor vehicle, automobile for hire or funeral car, other than a taxicab or motor vehicle used in a ridesharing arrangement, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation.
(ORC 4511.01(L))

301.06   Business district

“Business district” means the territory fronting upon a street or highway, including the street or highway, between successive intersections where fifty percent or more of the frontage between such successive intersections is occupied by buildings in use for business, or where fifty percent or more of the frontage for a distance of 300 feet or more is occupied by buildings in use for business, and the character of such territory is indicated by official traffic control devices.
(ORC 4511.01(NN))

301.07   Commercial tractor

“Commercial tractor” means every motor vehicle having motive power designed or used for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry any load thereon, or designed or used for drawing other vehicles while carrying a portion of such other vehicles, or the load thereon, or both.
(ORC 4511.01(I))

301.08   Controlled-access highway

“Controlled-access highway” means every street or highway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right or access to or from the same except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over such street or highway.
(ORC 4511.01(CC))

301.09   Crosswalk

“Crosswalk” means:

  1. (a) That part of a roadway at intersections ordinarily included within the real or projected prolongation of property lines and curb lines or, in the absence of curbs, the edges of the traversable roadway;

  2. (b) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere, distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface;

  3. (c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b) hereof, there shall not be a crosswalk where authorized signs have been placed indicating no crossing.
    (ORC 4511.01(LL))

301.10   Driver or operator

“Driver” or “operator” means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
(ORC 4511.01(Y))

301.11   Emergency vehicle

“Emergency vehicle” means emergency vehicles of municipal, township or county departments or public utility corporations when identified as such as required by law, the Ohio Director of Public Safety or local authorities, and motor vehicles when commandeered by a police officer.
(ORC 4511.01(D))

301.12   Explosives

“Explosives” means any chemical compound or mechanical mixture that is intended for the purpose of producing an explosion that contains any oxidizing and combustible units or other ingredients in such proportions, quantities or packing that an ignition by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion or by a detonator of any part of the compound or mixture may cause such a sudden generation of highly heated gases that the resultant gaseous pressures are capable of producing destructive effects on contiguous objects, or of destroying life or limb.

Manufactured articles shall not be held to be explosives when the individual units contain explosives in such limited quantities, of such nature or in such packing, that it is impossible to procure a simultaneous or a destructive explosion of such units, to the injury of life, limb or property by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion or by a detonator, such as fixed ammunition for small arms, firecrackers or safety fuse matches.
(ORC 4511.01(T))

301.13   Expressway

“Expressway” means a divided arterial highway for through traffic with full or partial control of access with an excess of fifty percent of all crossroads separated in grade.
(ORC 4511.01(ZZ))

301.14   Flammable liquid

“Flammable liquid” means any liquid that has a flash point of seventy degrees Fahrenheit, or less, as determined by a tagliabue or equivalent closed cup test device.
(ORC 4511.01(U))

301.15   Freeway

“Freeway” means a divided multi-lane highway for through traffic with all crossroads separated in grade and with full control of access.
(ORC 4511.01(YY))

301.16   Gross weight

“Gross weight” means the weight of a vehicle plus the weight of any load thereon.
(ORC 4511.01(V))

301.161   Highway maintenance vehicle

“Highway maintenance vehicle” means a vehicle used in snow and ice removal or road surface maintenance, including a snow plow, traffic line striper, road sweeper, mowing machine, asphalt distributing vehicle, or other such vehicle designed for use in specific highway maintenance activities.
(ORC 4511.01(QQQ))

301.162   Highway traffic signal

“Highway traffic signal”means a power-operated traffic control device by which traffic is warned or directed to take some specific action. “Highway traffic signal” does not include a power-operated sign, steadily illuminated pavement markers, warning light, or steady burning electric lamp.
(ORC 4511.01(MMM))

301.17   Intersection

“Intersection” means:

  1. (a) The area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways that join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways that join at any other angle might come into conflict. The junction of an alley or driveway with a roadway or highway does not constitute an intersection unless the roadway or highway at the junction is controlled by a traffic control device.

  2. (b) If a highway includes two roadways that are thirty feet or more apart, then every crossing of each roadway of such divided highway by an intersecting highway constitutes a separate intersection. If both intersecting highways include two roadways thirty feet or more apart, then every crossing of any two roadways of such highways constitutes a separate intersection.

  3. (c) At a location controlled by a traffic control signal, regardless of the distance between the separate intersections as described in subsection (b) of this section:

    1. (1) If a stop line, yield line, or crosswalk has not been designated on the roadway within the median between the separate intersections, the two intersections and the roadway and median constitute one intersection.

    2. (2) Where a stop line, yield line, or crosswalk line is designated on the roadway on the intersection approach, the area within the crosswalk and any area beyond the designated stop line or yield line constitute part of the intersection.

    3. (3) Where a crosswalk is designated on a roadway on the departure from the intersection, the intersection includes the area that extends to the far side of the crosswalk.
      (ORC 4511.01(KK))

301.18   Laned street or highway

“Laned street or highway” means a street or highway the roadway of which is divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic.
(ORC 4511.01(GG))

301.183   Low-speed micromobility device

“Low-speed micromobility device” means a device weighing less than 100 pounds that has handlebars, is propelled by an electric motor or human power, and has an attainable speed on a paved level surface of not more than twenty miles per hour when propelled by the electric motor.
(ORC 4511.01(WWW))

301.185   Median

“Median” means the area between two roadways of a divided highway, measured from edge of traveled way to edge of traveled way, but excluding turn lanes. The width of a median may be different between intersections, between interchanges, and at opposite approaches of the same intersection.
(ORC 4511.01(NNN))

301.19   Motorcycle

“Motorcycle” means every motor vehicle, other than a tractor, having a seat or saddle for the use of the operator and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, including but not limited to, motor vehicles known as “motor-driven cycle,” “motor scooter,” “autocycle,”,”cab-enclosed motorcycle” or “motorcycle” without regard to weight or brake horsepower.
(ORC 4511.01(C))

301.20   Motor vehicle

“Motor vehicle” means every vehicle propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power, except motorized bicycles, electric bicycles, road rollers, traction engines, power shovels, power cranes and other equipment used in construction work and not designed for or employed in general highway transportation, hole-digging machinery, well-drilling machinery, ditch-digging machinery, farm machinery, and trailers designed and used exclusively to transport a boat between a place of storage and a marina, or in and around a marina, when drawn or towed on a street or highway for a distance of no more than ten miles and at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour or less.
(ORC 4511.01(B))

301.201   Operate

“Operate” means to cause or have caused movement of a vehicle.
(ORC 4511.01(HHH))

301.21   Park or parking

“Park or parking” means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers.

301.22   Pedestrian

“Pedestrian” means any natural person afoot. The term includes a personal delivery device as defined in Ohio R.C. 4511.513 unless the context clearly suggests otherwise.
(ORC 4511.01(X))

301.23   Person

“Person” means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation.
(ORC 4511.01(W))

301.24   Pole trailer

“Pole trailer” means every trailer or semitrailer attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach, pole or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregular shaped loads such as poles, pipes or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connection.
(ORC 4511.01(O))

301.25   Police officer

“Police officer” means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic, or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations.
(ORC 4511.01(Z))

301.251   Predicate motor vehicle or traffic offense

“Predicate motor vehicle or traffic offense” means any of the following:

  1. (a) A violation of Ohio R.C. 4511.03, 4511.051, 4511.12, 4511.132, 4511.16, 4511.20, 4511.201, 4511.21, 4511.211, 4511.213, 4511.22, 4511.23, 4511.25, 4511.26, 4511.27, 4511.28, 4511.29, 4511.30, 4511.31, 4511.32, 4511.33, 4511.34, 4511.35, 4511.36, 4511.37, 4511.38, 4511.39, 4511.40, 4511.41, 4511.42, 4511.43, 4511.431, 4511.432, 4511.44, 4511.441, 4511.451, 4511.452, 4511.46, 4511.47, 4511.48, 4511.481, 4511.49, 4511.50, 4511.511, 4511.522, 4511.53, 4511.54, 4511.55, 4511.56, 4511.57, 4511.58, 4511.59, 4511.60, 4511.61, 4511.64, 4511.66, 4511.661, 4511.68, 4511.70, 4511.701, 4511.71, 4511.711, 4511.712, 4511.713, 4511.72, 4511.73, 4511.763, 4511.771, 4511.78 or 4511.84;

  2. (b) A violation of division (A)(2) of Ohio R.C. 4511.17, divisions (A) to (D) of Ohio R.C. 4511.51, or division (A) of Ohio R.C. 4511.74;

  3. (c) A violation of any provision of Ohio R.C. 4511.01 to 4511.76 for which no penalty otherwise is provided in the section that contains the provision violated;

  4. (d) A violation of Ohio R.C. 4511.214.

  5. (e) A violation of a municipal ordinance that is substantially similar to any section or provision set forth or described in subsection (a) to (d) of this section.
    (ORC 4511.01(III))

301.26   Private road or driveway

  1. (a) “Private road or driveway” means every way or place in private ownership used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner but not by other persons.
    (ORC 4511.01(DD))

  2. (b) “Private road open to public travel” means a private toll road or road, including any adjacent sidewalks that generally run parallel to the road, within a shopping center, airport, sports arena, or other similar business or recreation facility that is privately owned but where the public is allowed to travel without access restrictions. “Private road open to public travel” includes a gated toll road but does not include a road within a private gated property where access is restricted at all times, a parking area, a driving aisle within a parking area, or a private grade crossing.
    (ORC 4511.01(OOO))

301.27   Public safety vehicle

“Public safety vehicle” means any of the following:

  1. (a) Ambulances, including private ambulance companies under contract to a municipal corporation, township or county and private ambulances and transport vehicles bearing license plates issued under Ohio R.C. 4503.49;

  2. (b) Motor vehicles used by public law enforcement officers or other persons sworn to enforce the criminal and traffic laws of the State or the Municipality;

  3. (c) Any motor vehicle when properly identified as required by the Ohio Director of Public Safety, when used in response to fire emergency calls or to provide emergency medical service to ill or injured persons, and when operated by a duly qualified person who is a member of a volunteer rescue service or a volunteer fire department, and who is on duty pursuant to the rules or directives of that service. The Ohio Fire Marshal shall be designated by the Ohio Director of Public Safety as the certifying agency for all public safety vehicles described in this subsection (c);

  4. (d) Vehicles used by fire departments, including motor vehicles when used by volunteer fire fighters responding to emergency calls in the fire department service when identified as required by the Ohio Director of Public Safety. Any vehicle used to transport or provide emergency medical service to an ill or injured person, when certified as a public safety vehicle, shall be considered a public safety vehicle when transporting an ill or injured person to a hospital regardless of whether such vehicle has already passed a hospital.
    (ORC 4511.01(E))

  5. (e) Vehicles used by the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enforcement Unit for the enforcement of orders and rules of the Public Utilities Commission as specified in Ohio R.C. 5503.34.

301.28   Railroad

“Railroad” means a carrier of persons or property operating upon rails placed principally on a private right of way.
(ORC 4511.01(P))

301.29   Railroad sign or signal

“Railroad sign or signal” means any sign, signal or device erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train.
(ORC 4511.01(SS))

301.30   Railroad train

“Railroad train” means a steam engine, or an electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operated by a railroad.
(ORC 4511.01(Q))

301.31   Residence district

“Residence district” means the territory, not comprising a business district, fronting on a street or highway, including the street or highway, where, for a distance of 300 feet or more, the frontage is improved with residences or residences and buildings in use for business.
(ORC 4511.01(OO))

301.32   Right of way

“Right of way” means either of the following, as the context requires:

  1. (a) The right of a vehicle or pedestrian to proceed uninterruptedly in a lawful manner in the direction in which it or the individual is moving in preference to another vehicle or pedestrian approaching from a different direction into its or the individual’s path;

  2. (b) A general term denoting land, property or the interest therein, usually in the configuration of a strip, acquired for or devoted to transportation purposes. When used in this context, right of way includes the roadway, shoulders or berm, ditch, and slopes extending to the right-of-way limits under the control of the State or local authority.
    (ORC 4511.01(UU))

301.321   Road service vehicle

“Road service vehicle” means wreckers, utility repair vehicles, and state, county, and municipal service vehicles equipped with visual signals by means of flashing, rotating, or oscillating lights.
(ORC 4511.01(JJJ))

301.33   Roadway

“Roadway” means that portion of a street or highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, except the berm or shoulder. If a street or highway includes two or more separate roadways, the term “roadway” means any such roadway separately but not all such roadways collectively.
(ORC 4511.01(EE))

301.34   Safety zone

“Safety zone” means the area or space officially set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and protected or marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times.
(ORC 4511.01(MM))

301.35   School bus

“School bus” means every bus designed for carrying more than nine passengers that is owned by a public, private or governmental agency or institution of learning and operated for the transportation of children to or from a school session or a school function, or owned by a private person and operated for compensation for the transportation of children to or from a school session or a school function; provided “school bus” does not include a bus operated by a municipally owned transportation system, a mass transit company operating exclusively within the territorial limits of the Municipality, or within such limits and the territorial limits of municipal corporations immediately contiguous to the Municipality, nor a common passenger carrier certified by the Public Utilities Commission unless such bus is devoted exclusively to the transportation of children to and from a school session or a school function, and “school bus” does not include a van or bus used by a licensed child day- care center or type A family day-care home to transport children from the child day-care center or type A family day-care home to a school if the van or bus does not have more than fifteen children in the van or bus at any time. “Child day-care center” and “type A family day-care home” have the same meanings as in Ohio R.C. 5104.01.
(ORC 4511.01(F), (FFF))

301.36   Semitrailer

“Semitrailer” means every vehicle designed or used for carrying persons or property with another and separate motor vehicle so that in operation a part of its own weight or that of its load, or both, rests upon and is carried by another vehicle.
(ORC 4511.01(N))

301.361   Shared-use path

“Shared-use path” means a bikeway outside the traveled way and physically separate from motorized vehicular traffic by an open space or barrier and either within the highway right-of-way or within an independent alignment. A shared-use path also may be used by pedestrians, including skaters, joggers, users of manual and motorized wheelchairs, and other authorized motorized and non-motorized users. A shared-use path does not include any trail that is intended to be used primarily for mountain biking, hiking, equestrian use, or other similar uses, or any other single track or natural surface trail that has historically been reserved for nonmotorized use.
(ORC 4511.01(PPP))

301.37   Sidewalk

“Sidewalk” means that portion of a street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for the use of pedestrians.
(ORC 4511.01(FF))

301.38   State route

“State route” means every highway that is designated with an official State route number and so marked.
(ORC 4511.01(JJ))

301.39   Stop (when required)

“Stop” when required means a complete cessation of movement.

301.40   Stopping or standing

  1. (a) “Stop or stopping” when prohibited means any halting of a vehicle, even momentarily, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic control device.

  2. (b) “Stand or standing” means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise then temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers.

301.41   Stop intersection

“Stop intersection” means any intersection at one or more entrances of which stop signs are erected.
(ORC 4511.01(BBB))

301.42   Street or highway; arterial street

  1. (a) “Street” or “highway” are synonymous and mean the entire width between the boundary lines of every way open to the use of the public as a thoroughfare for purposes of vehicular travel.
    (ORC 4511.01(BB))

  2. (b) “Arterial street” means any United States or State numbered route, controlled access highway or other major radial or circumferential street or highway designated by local authorities within their respective jurisdictions as part of a major arterial system of streets or highways.
    (ORC 4511.01(CCC))

301.43   Through street or highway

“Through street or highway” means every street or highway as provided in Section 313.02.
(ORC 4511.01(HH))

301.44   Thruway

“Thruway” means a through street or highway whose entire roadway is reserved for through traffic and on which roadway parking is prohibited.
(ORC 4511.01(AAA))

301.45   Traffic

“Traffic” means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles and other devices, either singly or together, while using for purposes of travel any street or highway or private road open to public travel.
(ORC 4511.01(TT))

301.46   Traffic control devices

“Traffic control device” means a flagger, sign, signal, marking, or other device used to regulate, warn or guide traffic, placed on, over, or adjacent to a street, highway, private road open to public travel, pedestrian facility, or shared-use path by authority of a public agency or official having jurisdiction, or, in the case of a private road open to public travel, by authority of the private owner or private official having jurisdiction.
(ORC 4511.01(QQ))

301.47   Traffic control signal

“Traffic control signal” means any highway traffic signal by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed.
(ORC 4511.01(RR))

301.48   Trailer

“Trailer” means every vehicle designed or used for carrying persons or property wholly on its own structure and for being drawn by a motor vehicle, including any such vehicle when formed by or operated as a combination of a semitrailer and a vehicle of the dolly type, such as that commonly known as a trailer dolly, a vehicle used to transport agricultural produce or agricultural production materials between a local place of storage or supply and the farm when drawn or towed on a street or highway at a speed greater than twenty-five miles per hour and a vehicle designed and used exclusively to transport a boat between a place of storage and a marina, or in and around a marina, when drawn or towed on a street or highway for a distance of more than ten miles or at a speed of more than twenty-five miles per hour.
(ORC 4511.01(M))

301.49   Truck

“Truck” means every motor vehicle, except trailers and semitrailers, designed and used to carry property.
(ORC 4511.01(K))

301.50   Urban district

“Urban district” means the territory contiguous to and including any street or highway which is built up with structures devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses situated at intervals of less than 100 feet for distance of a quarter of a mile or more, and the character of such territory is indicated by official traffic control devices.
(ORC 4511.01(PP))

301.51   Vehicle

“Vehicle” means every device, including a motorized bicycle and an electric bicycle, in, upon or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn upon a street or highway, except that “vehicle” does not include any motorized wheelchair, any electric personal assistive mobility device, any low- speed micromobility device, or any device, other than a bicycle, that is moved by human power.
(ORC 4511.01(A))

301.52   Wheelchair, motorized

“Motorized wheelchair” means any self-propelled vehicle designed for, and used by, a handicapped person and that is incapable of a speed in excess of eight miles per hour.
(ORC 4511.01(EEE))

301.53   Waste collection vehicle

“Waste collection vehicle” means a vehicle used in the collection of garbage, refuse, trash or recyclable materials.
(ORC 4511.01(RRR))