Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 4921.01 – Definitions

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Ambulance" has the same meaning as in section 4766.01 of the Revised Code.
(B) "For-hire motor carrier" means a person engaged in the business of transporting persons or property by motor vehicle for compensation, except when engaged in any of the following in intrastate commerce:
1. (1) The transportation of persons in taxicabs in the usual taxicab service;
2. (2) The transportation of pupils in school buses operating to or from school sessions or school events;
3. (3) The transportation of farm supplies to the farm or farm products from farm to market or to food fabricating plants;
4. (4) The distribution of newspapers;
5. (5) The transportation of crude petroleum incidental to gathering from wells and delivery to destination by pipeline;
6. (6) The transportation of injured, ill, or deceased persons by hearse or ambulance;
7. (7) The transportation of compost (a combination of manure and sand or shredded bark mulch) or shredded bark mulch;
8. (8) The transportation of persons in a ridesharing arrangement when any fee charged each person so transported is in such amount as to recover only the person's share of the costs of operating the motor vehicle for such purpose;
9. (9) The operation of motor vehicles for contractors on public road work. "For-hire motor carrier" includes the carrier's agents, officers, and representatives, as well as employees responsible for hiring, supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching drivers and employees concerned with the installation, inspection, and maintenance of motor-vehicle equipment and accessories. Divisions (B)(1) to (9) of this section shall not be construed to relieve a person from compliance with rules governing unified carrier registration adopted under section 4921.11 of the Revised Code.
(C) "Household goods" means personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling, excluding property moving from a factory or store.
(D) "Interstate commerce" means trade, traffic, or transportation in the United States that is any of the following:
1. (1) Between a place in a state and a place outside of that state (including a place outside of the United States);
2. (2) Between two places in a state through another state or a place outside of the United States;
3. (3) Between two places in a state as part of trade, traffic, or transportation originating or terminating outside the state or the United States.
(E) "Intrastate commerce" means any trade, traffic, or transportation in any state which is not described in the term "interstate commerce."
(F) "Motor vehicle" means any vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer, or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used upon the highways in the transportation of persons or property, or any combination thereof, but does not include any vehicle, locomotive, or car operated exclusively on a rail or rails, or a trolley bus operated by electric power derived from a fixed overhead wire, furnishing local passenger transportation similar to street-railway service.
(G) "Public highway" means any public street, road, or highway in this state, whether within or without the corporate limits of a municipal corporation.
(H) "Ridesharing arrangement" means the transportation of persons in a motor vehicle where such transportation is incidental to another purpose of a volunteer driver, and includes ridesharing arrangements known as carpools, vanpools, and buspools.
(I) "School bus" has the same meaning as in section 4511.01 of the Revised Code.
(J) "Trailer" means any vehicle without motive power designed or used for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a separate motor vehicle, including any vehicle of the trailer type, whether designed or used for carrying persons or property wholly on its own structure, or so designed or used that a part of its own weight or the weight of its load rests upon and is carried by such motor vehicle.