Ohio Code 4511.096 – Examination of evidence
(A) A law enforcement officer employed by a local authority utilizing a traffic law photo-monitoring device shall examine evidence of alleged traffic law violations recorded by the device to determine whether such a violation has occurred. If the image recorded by the traffic law photo-monitoring device shows such a violation, contains the date and time of the violation, and shows the letter and numerals on the license plate of the vehicle involved as well as the state that issued the license plate, the officer may use any lawful means to identify the registered owner.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4511.096
- Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Motor vehicle: means every vehicle propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power or power collected from overhead electric trolley wires, 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. See Ohio Code 4511.01
- Person: means every natural person, firm, co-partnership, association, or corporation. See Ohio Code 4511.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, trackless trolleys, and other devices, either singly or together, while using for purposes of travel any highway or private road open to public travel. See Ohio Code 4511.01
- 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 highway, except that "vehicle" does not include any motorized wheelchair, any electric personal assistive mobility device, any low-speed micromobility device, any personal delivery device as defined in section 4511. See Ohio Code 4511.01
(B) The fact that a person or entity is the registered owner of a motor vehicle is prima facie evidence that that person or entity is the person who was operating the vehicle at the time of the traffic law violation.
(C) Within thirty days of the traffic law violation, the local authority or its designee may issue and send by regular mail a ticket charging the registered owner with the violation. The ticket shall comply with section 4511.097 of the Revised Code. If the local authority mails a ticket charging the registered owner with the violation, the local authority shall file a certified copy of the ticket with the municipal court or county court with jurisdiction over the civil action.
(D) A certified copy of the ticket alleging a traffic law violation, sworn to or affirmed by a law enforcement officer employed by the local authority, including by electronic means, and the recorded images produced by the traffic law photo-monitoring device, is prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein and is admissible in a civil action or proceeding concerning the ticket issued under this section.