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| 1906 | The first legislation pertaining to state registration of motor vehicles was passed by the legislature in 1906. The original law contained no provisions for the annual renewal of registration and this defect was remedied for the following year. Prior to the time the state assumed the duties of registering motor vehicles, local municipalities had that authority and many of them, particularly the larger ones, did impose a local license registration. | |
| 1907 | The "Automobile Division" of the Secretary of State's Office was established and administered by a "Registrar." | |
| 1908 | First full year of state motor vehicle registration and collection of fees. There were 10,649 vehicles of all types registered generating a total of $50,745. | |
| 1918 | The first year letters were stamped on the license plates. | |
| 1923 | The Secretary of State was responsible to designate one or more persons in each county to serve as Deputy Registrars in the county seat, cities or villages as the Secretary of State sees fit. | |
| 1925 | ||
| 1933 | ||
| 1935 | ||
| 1938 | Certificate of title law enacted on January 1. This legislation was to prevent the importation of stolen motor vehicles, and thefts and fraud in the transfer of title to motor vehicle. | |
| 1941 | The legislature enacted a "Uniform Traffic Act" based upon a standard uniform traffic code. | |
| 1948 | Beginning April 1, the registration fee for all passenger cars was set at $10.00. | |
| 1952 | The highway use tax law was enacted. | |
| 1953 | The safety responsibility law was enacted on March 1. | |
| 1954 | The 1953-54 legislature created the Department of Highway Safety comprised of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Highway Patrol, and the Administration Division under the jurisdiction of the Director of Highway Safety. | |
| 1956 | Ohio began using the standard (6" x 12") size license plates. | |
| 1957 | ||
| 1961 | The Registrar is required to assign one or more Deputy Registrars to any driver license exam station (operated under the supervision of the Ohio Highway Patrol) that has given 20,000 or more driver license exams the preceding year, and can assign one or more Deputy Registrars to any other driver exam stations to issue operator licenses, temporary permits, and chauffeur licenses. | |
| 1967 | ||
| 1968 | Effective June 10, duplicate driver license requirements were enacted. | |
| 1969 | ||
| 1971 | A new appropriation bill was passed and approved and the BMV conducted a study of the relative merits of "central issuance" and "field issuance" systems for producing and distributing photo licenses. Under a "central issuance" system, Deputy Registrars across the state would complete application forms, collect fees and take each applicant's picture; then forward the application and photo negative to Bureau headquarters in Columbus, where a finished license would be produced and mailed to the applicant. Under a "field issuance" system, Deputy Registrars would be equipped to produce finished photo licenses in their own offices, and issue licenses immediately over the counter. The field issuance system was implemented for the cost effectiveness and to provide an improved level of customer convenience. |
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| 1972 | Effective January 1, 1972, approximately one-half of Ohio's drivers were issued a 3-year license and the other half received 4-year licenses. The 3-year license was issued to drivers whose surnames began with "A" through "K" and 4-year licenses were issued to drivers whose surnames began with "L" through "Z." Additionally, the Bureau advertised for bids on a camera system to be installed at Deputy Registrar agencies across the state which would enable deputies to produce and issue finished photo licenses on the spot in a matter of minutes. | |
| 1974 | A total statewide changeover from paper to color photo driver licenses and reorganizing the Deputy Registrar network to provide optimum photo license service within limited budgetary parameters. Remote computer terminals were installed at most photo licensing agencies as a preliminary step toward "online" branch issuance of all Ohio driver licenses. | |
| 1975 | By December 1975, all functioning driver license agencies in the state were operating in an "online" configuration through a statewide network of remote computer terminals. | |
| 1976 | Effective January 5, anatomical donations statement to be displayed on driver licenses. | |
| 1977 | Effective January 1, the Ohio color photo identification card program was enacted to provide identification to individuals who were not licensed as operators of motor vehicles in Ohio or another jurisdiction. | |
| 1980 | A staggered monthly renewal registration of passenger and other non-commercial vehicles was implemented. Prior to this vehicle registrations were renewed within a three month period of March through May and required the implementation of approximately 350 temporary Deputy Registrars to supplement the nearly 400 year-round agencies in operation at that time | |
| 1985 | Vision screening required for driver’s license issuance. | |
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| 1988 | ||
| 1989 | First year for date-of-birth vehicle registration and mail-in registration renewal option. | |
| 1990 | The Chauffeur's License category was changed to Commercial Driver's License (CDL). In addition, federal law requires all large truck and bus drivers to pass knowledge and road skill tests to obtain a CDL. | |
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