Online Defensive Driving Training for Ohio Drivers
SafeMotorist's online Ohio Adult Remedial Course is an 8-hour defensive driving course for both in-state and out-of-state residents. Drivers ages 18 and up can complete the course 100% online to meet state requirements to satisfy a court order, meet the training requirement for license reinstatement or receive a two-point credit to avoid a license suspension.
The course is designed to help prevent accidents by educating Ohio drivers on defensive driving strategies and the risks of impaired driving. After completing the course and passing a final exam, your completion will be automatically reported to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV).
Who Needs to Complete the Ohio Defensive Driving Course?
The online Ohio Adult Remedial Course has a number of benefits for Ohio residents and out-of-state drivers.
You can complete the course to:
- Earn a two-point credit on your license to avoid a suspension
- Satisfy a court order to complete the remedial program
- Meet the training requirement to reinstate your license after a 12-point suspension
You can also take the course if your license was suspended for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol while under the age of 21. Drivers who are 19 or older are permitted to take the course for a juvenile license suspension that occurred before the age of 18.
About Court-Ordered Remedial Programs and the Two-Point Credit
This 100% online course is approved by the Ohio Department of Public Safety and satisfies state requirements for adult remedial program training.
If you received a court order to complete the remedial program, you can take the course to earn a DPS-approved certificate to provide to the court. Students who take the course to satisfy a court order do not qualify for the two-point credit. Prior to signing up for our program, you should already have received approval from the court to take this online Adult Remedial Course. Please check with the court clerk for additional eligibility questions.
You can also complete the course to avoid a license suspension due to receiving 12 points on your driving record within a two-year period. If you have two to 11 points, you may qualify for a two-point credit that allows you to receive 14 points before your license is suspended.
If you already received a 12-point license suspension, this course can assist you in getting your license reinstated. You can learn more about state requirements for license reinstatement on the Ohio BMV website.
Testing Requirements
This 8-hour course includes multiple quizzes and a final exam. As you progress through the program, questions will appear on your screen to check your knowledge. You must also answer a quiz question after each video in the course. If you answer incorrectly, you will need to watch the video again.
The course ends with a multiple-choice final exam that includes 40 questions. You have up to two attempts to earn a passing score of 75% or higher. Keep in mind that you can only attempt to take the final exam once per calendar day.
Adult Remedial Course Topics
This 100% online Ohio remedial driving course covers a number of topics designed to make you a safer and more courteous driver. It includes 16 learning modules and a final exam.
The course learning objectives include:
- State the basic rules of the road
- Describe the importance of driver attitudes
- Describe important techniques and maneuvers for effectively sharing the road with others
- List the penalties for various driving infractions in the state of Ohio
You can find an overview of each course module below.
Ohio Defensive Driving Course Outline
Module 1: Why Defensive Driving Matters
Topics include:
- The importance of defensive driving
- Fatalities
- Injuries
- Financial losses
Learning objectives include:
- State the number of people killed and injured on United States roadways each year
- Describe the social and personal consequences of those losses
- Summarize the financial losses associated with traffic crashes
Module 2: How People Contribute to Crashes
Topics include:
- Risk assessment
- Risk reduction
- Driving while intoxicated or under the influence
- Speeding
- Fatigue
- Distraction
- Aggression and road rage
- Personal responsibilities
- Good decision making
Learning objectives include:
- Describe the components of a risk assessment
- Identify the hazards of driving while intoxicated or under the influence
- List other behaviors that are hazardous while driving
- Explain how driver fitness can affect your ability to drive safely
Module 3: What Happens in a Crash?
Topics include:
- Crash vs. accident
- Impacts of a crash
- Energy absorption
- Effect of speed and weight of vehicle
- Minimizing the effects of a crash
Learning objectives include:
- Explain the difference between a crash and an accident
- Describe the three impacts that occur in a crash
- Summarize how modern vehicles absorb energy from a crash
- Explain how the speed and weight of the vehicle affects what happens in a crash
- Describe how you can help to minimize the effects of a crash
Module 4: Vehicle Safety Equipment and Maintenance
Topics include:
- Safety belts
- Child restraints
- Air bags
- Anti-lock brakes
- Traction control system
- Electronic stability control
- Benefits of maintenance
- Tire maintenance
- Brake maintenance
- Fluid maintenance
- Belt and hose maintenance
Learning objectives include:
- Explain how wearing seat belts protects drivers and passengers during a crash
- Describe the proper way to wear a seat belt
- Describe common safety features of modern vehicles, including airbags and anti-lock brakes
- Explain how regularly maintaining your vehicle can help keep you safe on the road
Module 5: Preparing to Drive
Topics include:
- Driver seat positioning and driver posture
- Head restraint adjustment
- Steering wheel adjustment
- Mirror adjustment
- Fastening the safety belt
- Hand position on steering wheel
- Instrument panel lights
- Instrument panel tools
Learning objectives include:
- Describe the importance of a "pre-flight" checklist
- Explain adjustments and tasks that should be completed ahead of driving
- Describe common instrument panel warning lights and their meaning
- Describe instrument panel tools and how they are used
Module 6: Traffic Rules
Topics include:
- Traffic signs
- Regulatory signs
- Warning signs
- Service signs
- Guide signals
- Traffic signals
- Flashing yellow light
- Flashing red light
- Lane-use control signals
- Pavement markings
- Crosswalks
- School buses
- Railroad crossings
- Move Over Law
- Traffic stops
Learning objectives include:
- Describe a driver's license
- Describe the various types of traffic control devices used to communicate road conditions and laws
- Explain how pavement markings aid the driver
- Explain appropriate driver actions near school buses
- Describe how to recognize a railroad crossing
- Describe the move-over law and how it varies across states
- Summarize the appropriate driver actions if stopped by law enforcement
Module 7: Driver Fitness and Personal Responsibility
Topics include:
- Safe driving attitude
- Driver fitness
- Driver perception and senses
- Mental fitness
- Emotional fitness
- Managing stress
- Effects of fatigue
- Preventing fatigue from affecting your driving
Learning objectives include:
- List the characteristics of a safe driver
- Explain why driver attitude is central to safe driving
- Describe how driver fitness plays a role in safe driving
- Define stress and the effects of stress on your body and mind
- Describe ways to prevent stress and other emotions from impairing your driving ability
- Describe fatigue and how it contributes to crashes
- List strategies you can use to prevent fatigue from affecting your driving
Module 8: Alcohol and Drug Use While Driving
Topics include:
- Effects of alcohol
- Effects of other drugs
- Physical and physiological effects
- Schedule I to V drugs
- Special risks for young drivers
- Chemical tests and blood alcohol content (BAC)
- Calculating BAC
- DUI/DWI
- Statistics
- Why people drive under the influence
- Preventing impaired driving
Learning objectives include:
- Define the words "alcohol" and "drug"
- Identify the hazards of driving while intoxicated or under the influence
- Differentiate between the physical and physiological symptoms of alcohol and other drugs
- Define blood alcohol content (BAC)
- Identify reasons or excuses some people use to justify driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Module 9: Speeding
Topics include:
- Dangers of speeding
- Speed limits
- Speeding violations
- Young drivers and speeding
- Avoiding speeding
- Bad driving habits
Learning objectives include:
- State the dangers of speeding
- Summarize how speed limits are determined
- Describe the points system and how it is utilized
- List characteristics that make younger drivers more likely to speed
- Describe how to avoid speeding
Module 10: Aggressive Driving and Road Rage
Topics include:
- Defining aggressive driving and road rage
- Dangers of both behaviors
- Legal consequences
- Avoiding aggressive driving and road rage
- Avoiding aggressive drivers
Learning objectives include:
- Differentiate aggressive driving from road rage
- Name tendencies associated with aggressive driving and road rage
- List strategies you can use to avoid aggressive driving and road rage
- Explain how to avoid aggressive drivers
Module 11: Distracted Driving
Topics include:
- Avoiding distracted driving
- Visual distractions
- Auditory distractions
- Manual distractions
- Cognitive distractions
- Dangers of cellphone use
- Other driving distractions
- Legal consequences
Learning objectives include:
- Summarize annual fatalities and injuries caused by distracted driving
- List the four types of distractions for drivers
- Explain how distractions such as cellphones impair driving ability
- Name other factors and behaviors that may affect your driving ability
- Describe methods to avoid distracted driving
Module 12: Sharing the Road
Topics include:
- Right of way
- Intersections
- Roundabouts
- Pedestrians and bicyclists
- Motorcyclists
- Trucks and larger vehicles
- Reaction time and stopping distance
- Blind spots
- Entering and exiting a highway
- Passing
- Parking
Learning objectives include:
- Summarize rules that determine right of way
- Outline how to safely navigate intersections
- Describe how to safely share the road with pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists
- Identify the dangers that drivers of smaller vehicles face when sharing the road with trucks and larger vehicles
- List strategies to safely share the road with larger vehicles
Module 13: Space Management
Topics include:
- Communicating with other drivers
- Scanning techniques
- Two-second rule
- Stopping distance
- Space management strategies
- Tailgaters
- Larger vehicles
- Avoiding impaired drivers
Learning objectives include:
- Communicate your intentions effectively with other drivers
- Describe scanning strategies that help you identify potential hazards on the road
- List the factors that affect braking distance
- Describe common space management strategies
- Explain how using the two-second rule helps establish a safe following distance from other drivers
- List the factors that affect total stopping distance
- Explain how to avoid impaired drivers
Module 14: Road and Weather Hazards
Topics include:
- Construction work zones
- Disabled and emergency vehicles
- Slow-moving vehicles
- Reduced visibility
- Fog
- Wet and icy roads
- Winter driving
- Mountain driving
Learning objectives include:
- Name common environmental and road hazards you may encounter while driving
- Explain how to recognize and avoid common road hazards, such as construction and work zones, disabled vehicles, and emergency vehicles
- Describe how to safely respond to environmental hazards like wintry conditions and fog
Module 15: Driving Emergencies
Topics include:
- Brake failure
- Stuck accelerator
- Tire blowout
- Engine or power failure
- Steering failure
- Engine overheating
- Emergency kits
- What should I do if my vehicle breaks down?
- What should I do if I crash?
- What should I do if I witness a crash?
Learning objectives include:
- Describe how to handle vehicle malfunctions that may disable your vehicle
- Describe how to safely handle emergencies such as crashes
Module 16: Ohio Driving Laws
Topics include:
- Owning and maintaining a car
- Ohio points system
- Alcohol and drugs
- Operating a vehicle impaired (OVI)
- OVI "impaired" and "per se"
- Drug per se levels
- Chemical and field sobriety tests
- BMV penalties
- Sobriety checkpoints
- Commercial driver licenses
- Speeding
- Move Over Law
- Mobile devices
- Safety belts
- Child passenger restraints
- Riding on the outside of the vehicle
- Anatomical gifts
Learning objectives include:
- Summarize licensing and registration requirements in Ohio
- Describe your financial responsibility as a driver
- Explain the Ohio points system
- Summarize the penalties associated with operating a vehicle impaired
- Explain how penalties are increasingly severe for repeat offenses
- Define reasonable speed
- Summarize the Move Over Law
- Describe the penalty for using a handheld electronic communications device while driving
- Summarize adult and child safety belt laws
- Explain anatomical gifts and the Ohio Donor Registry
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the online defensive driving course accepted by the Ohio DPS?
Yes! Our 100% online course is accepted by the Ohio Department of Public Safety and satisfies requirements to renew your license or comply with court-ordered adult remedial program training.
Does the Ohio defensive driving course have an age restriction?
Yes. This is an adult remedial driving course designed for drivers ages 18 and up.
How long does the course take to complete?
The Ohio defensive driving course includes at least eight hours of education. To satisfy state requirements and earn your certificate of completion, you must spend at least eight hours (480 minutes) in the course, not including breaks. You can train at your own pace and take breaks anytime without losing your place.
How long do I have to complete the course?
You will have 30 days to complete the course after registration. If you do not complete the course within 30 days, you must purchase the course again and start over to earn your certificate.
Do you report course completion to the Ohio BMV?
Yes, your course completion will automatically be reported to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Once your completion has been successfully reported, you will receive an email with your official digital certificate of completion issued by the BMV.
Will I receive a certificate of completion?
Yes. Because we automatically report your course completion to the Ohio BMV, you do not need to submit a certificate after finishing the course. After your completion has been successfully reported on the Ohio Driver Education and Training System (DETS), you will receive an email with your official digital certificate of completion issued by the BMV.