At Dearie, Fischer & Martinson, we represent many clients in traffic court. Both adults and juveniles often need traffic representation, and we have decades of experience with both. On our website, we have articles such as “What to Expect with a Juvenile Traffic Charge.” We do have a category of blog posts dedicated to Ohio Traffic Law which covers adult and juvenile traffic. Nevertheless, we thought it was time for another post on things to know about adult traffic convictions in Ohio.
Traffic Convictions are Crimes
While Ohio courts do distinguish between criminal and traffic cases, violating a traffic law is a crime, just like a violation of any other law. Traffic violations have varying degrees of severity. Many citizens have traffic violations on their record that are low level crimes. That is why you may sometimes hear employers or schools or other such entities ask if you have any criminal record “other than a traffic violation.”
OVI – The Criminal Traffic Crossover
Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence (OVI) is a sort of exception to the general separation between criminal and traffic cases. While this particular offense is a criminal offense, it does happen on the road. Therefore, OVI has aspects of a criminal and traffic offense. Normally, an OVI conviction counts as something “other than a traffic violation” on your record, because it is a criminal conviction as well as traffic.
Traffic Violations Cannot be Expunged
Our website contains many articles on sealing and expungement in Ohio. This topic seems to be of interest to many people in Ohio. However, the Ohio Revised Code excludes essentially all traffic violations from sealing or expungement. This includes OVI. Having a traffic violation on your record that cannot be sealed may be a bummer. But in a situation where someone asks you about any criminal record other than traffic violations, the traffic violations on your record will, of course, not matter. OVI is a slightly more tricky situation because it cannot be sealed but it is more serious than a normal traffic violation.
OVI is by no means the only criminal offense that is not eligible for sealing or expungement in Ohio. There are many non traffic violations that are also excluded from sealing and expungement in Ohio.
Conclusion
There are many other things to know about adult traffic convictions in Ohio. If you or someone you know has a traffic case pending in Ohio court, feel free to contact the expert attorneys at Dearie, Fischer & Martinson. With over 30 years of experience in Warren County, Montgomery County, Butler County, and the surrounding areas, we would be happy to talk about your case.
