Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 4513.071 (2026)

Stop light

✓ laws through the 2026 session (checked Sept. 2026)

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ORCcodes.ohio.gov (official) Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Effective:

December 27, 2025

Latest Legislation:

House Bill 54 - 136th General Assembly

PDF:

Download Authenticated PDF

(A) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer when operated upon a highway shall be equipped with two or more stop lights, except that passenger cars manufactured or assembled prior to January 1, 1967, motorcycles, and motor-driven cycles shall be equipped with at least one stop light. Stop lights shall be mounted on the rear of the vehicle, actuated upon application of the service brake, and may be incorporated with other rear lights. Such stop lights when actuated shall emit a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear, provided that in the case of a train of vehicles only the stop lights on the rear-most vehicle need be visible from the distance specified.

Such stop lights when actuated shall give a steady warning light to the rear of a vehicle or train of vehicles to indicate the intention of the operator to diminish the speed of or stop a vehicle or train of vehicles.

When stop lights are used as required by this section, they shall be constructed or installed so as to provide adequate and reliable illumination and shall conform to the appropriate rules and regulations established under section 4513.19 of the Revised Code.

A historical motor vehicle that was not originally manufactured with stop lights or a replica motor vehicle that replicates a motor vehicle that was not originally manufactured with stop lights is not subject to this section.

(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.

(C) As used in this section, "replica motor vehicle" means a replica motor vehicle for which a certificate of title is issued under section 4505.072 of the Revised Code.

Last updated December 27, 2025 at 4:01 AM

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1982–2023 · leading case: Payne v. Rumpke, 2023-Ohio-4760.

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Payne v. Rumpke, 2023-Ohio-4760. · cites it 5× “ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF OHIO MOTOR VEHICLE LAWS {¶36} Appellant first contends that Rumpke and Matthew Reed violated R.C. 4513.071, “Stop lights required.” This statute provides in pertinent part: (A) Every motor vehicle, * * * when operated upon a highway shall be equipped with…”

State v. Guysinger, 621 N.E.2d 726 (Ohio Ct. App. 4th Dist. 1993). “) R.C. 4513.071 provides: “All motor vehicles when operated upon a highway shall be equipped with at least one stop light mounted on the rear of the vehicle which shall be activated upon application of the service brake, and which may be incorporated with other rear lights.”

Crawford v. Halkovics, 438 N.E.2d 890 (Ohio 1982). · cites it 2× “The evidence in this case, when construed in the defendant’s favor, is sufficient to support a finding that the brake lights on the Crawford automobile were not operating immediately prior to the accident, that *187 Crawford did not otherwise signal her intention to stop or…”

Piper v. McMillan, 730 N.E.2d 481 (Ohio Ct. App. 7th Dist. 1999). · cites it 4× “39 and R.C. 4513.071. R.C. 4511.39 provides, in part: “No person shall stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle or trackless trolley without first giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided herein to the driver of any vehicle or trackless trolley immediately to…”

State v. McGee, 2013-Ohio-4165. · cites it 3× “At the suppression hearing, the state argued that the police officer had stopped the defendant for violating R.C. 4513.071 which requires two stop (brake) lights on the rear of a vehicle.”

State v. Jones, 2022-Ohio-561, 185 N.E.3d 131. “Code 4501-41-03(A)(2) and (3) (permitting tinted windows so long as 70% of light passes through a windshield and 50% of light passes through the front side windows); R.C. 4513.071 (requiring passenger vehicles to have two red brake lights).”

State v. Adams, 2015-Ohio-5072. · cites it 2× “In its judgment entry of suppression, the learned trial court remarked it was unlikely a light had failed in the interval between the inspection and the stop, but further noted the governing statute, R.C. 4513.071(A), requires that brake lights be visible for 500 feet.”

Ohio Rev. Code § 4513.071(A): 1 case

State v. Adams, 2015-Ohio-5072. “In its judgment entry of suppression, the learned trial court remarked it was unlikely a light had failed in the interval between the inspection and the stop, but further noted the governing statute, R.C. 4513.071(A), requires that brake lights be visible for 500 feet.”

Ohio Rev. Code § 4513.071(B): 1 case

State v. Adams, 2015-Ohio-5072. “In its judgment entry of suppression, the learned trial court remarked it was unlikely a light had failed in the interval between the inspection and the stop, but further noted the governing statute, R.C. 4513.071(A), requires that brake lights be visible for 500 feet.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.