COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio adults will soon have to go through more training to get their license.
Being able to drive in Ohio opens doors for families like Gabe Crenshaw's.
"It allowed [my kids] to get part-time jobs," Crenshaw said. "It allowed me and my husband to not be the taxi anymore."
All three of her kids went through the routine driver’s license training at 15 and a half. In the state, 16 and 17-year-olds must complete 24 hours in a classroom and eight with a driving instructor. They must also complete 50 hours of driving practice, monitored by an adult over 21.
All of these lessons came at a price.
"It was a significant cost," the mom said.
We looked at 10 driving schools in the area — and each one had a pricetag of more than $400 for the classes. But, Gov. Mike DeWine said the cost and classes are worth it.
"Young people who go through driver's training become safer drivers, safer for themselves and safer for everyone else on the road," the governor said when signing the budget in early July.
In the $60 billion operating budget, he and the lawmakers have made it so that even more people will need training. Under current state law, 18-year-olds and older can simply apply for a license, bypassing the majority of training requirements, like classes. But soon, drivers under 21 will be required to complete the same training that minors do.
"We have so many young people turning 18, never taking driver's training and they go in and ultimately — sometimes after many failures — pass," DeWine said. "Not acceptable."
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Tony Long warns that this policy could impact the economy, as 18- to 20-year-olds could be bumped out of the job market.
"One of the hardest things for the workforce is finding adequate transportation, so this adds to that," he said.
He mentioned that rural Ohioans may not have access to training nearby, and many areas of the state — even urban ones — aren't walkable.
"We're trying to find as much workforce as we can," Long said. "You start to think about certain industries: those folks that need summer jobs, you think about restaurants, you think about hospitality and I think this has a trickle-down kind of an effect on the economy."
DeWine responds that he knows cost and availability of driving facilities can cause problems, which is why he proposed putting driver’s ed back in public schools, but the lawmakers took his provision out.
"Having the opportunity to have driver's training back in the schools, I think, makes a lot of sense," the governor said.
Both Long and Crenshaw agree that if the law raises the age, then training should be provided in schools.
More driving training will keep people safer, so DeWine is willing to work with schools to get this done. But Crenshaw said that this current policy will hurt the marginalized communities the most.
"It will impact the workforce and just create another barrier for individuals and communities who are already facing so many barriers," Crenshaw said.
The law goes into effect at the end of September.
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