4501.81 Licensee next-of-kin database.
4501.81 Licensee next-of-kin database.
(A) The bureau of motor vehicles shall establish a database of the next of kin of persons who are issued and driver’s licenses, commercial driver’s licenses, temporary instruction permits, and identification cards. Information in the database shall be accessible only to employees of the bureau and to criminal justice agencies and is not a public record for purposes of section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
(B) An individual holding a valid Ohio driver’s license, commercial driver’s license, temporary instruction permit, or identification card shall be afforded the opportunity to list the name, address, telephone number, and relationship to the individual of at least one contact person whom the individual wishes to be contacted if the individual is involved in a motor vehicle accident or emergency situation and the individual dies or is seriously injured or rendered unconscious and is unable to communicate with the contact person. The contact person may or may not be the next of kin of the applicant, except that if the applicant is under eighteen years of age and is not emancipated, the contact person shall include the parent, guardian, or custodian of the applicant.
(C) The bureau, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt rules to implement this section. The rules shall address both of the following:
(1) The methods whereby a person who has submitted the name of a contact person for inclusion in the database may make changes to that entry;
(2) Any other aspect of the database or its operation that the registrar of motor vehicles determines is necessary in order to implement this section.
(D) In the event of a motor vehicle accident or emergency situation in which a person dies or is seriously injured or rendered unconscious and is unable to communicate with the contact person specified in the database, an employee of a criminal justice agency shall make a good faith effort to notify the contact person of the situation, but neither the bureau of motor vehicles nor the employee nor the criminal justice agency that employs that employee incurs any liability if the employee is not able to make contact with the contact person.
Effective Date: 2008 HB392 07-31-2008