The Student Driver sign celebrates 25 years of protecting teen drivers
COLUMBUS, Ohio – This week marked the 25th anniversary of the student driver signs, which were previously illegal to display in car windows until 2004. Jonna Saul-Anderson designed the original sign for her and her daughter Jessica to use while performing their required 50 hours of supervised driving.
“I designed this sign to put in our car window and I made three of them, back and both sides,” said Saul-Anderson, showing the familiar yellow sign. “So, we used those until we found out that they were illegal to put them in your car window. ”
Saul-Anderson advocated for the law to change and after three years and a testimony at the Statehouse, it became a reality. Since then, Ohio has seen multiple changes to support teen drivers and their families. From online classroom training options, implementing a new app to track supervised driving, and the Teach Your Teen to Drive Campaign launched in 2025.
“…and in addition to that, I’d say one of the most important things we’ve done is creating scholarships for new drivers that are teenagers and also, now, up to the age of 20 to get driver education,” said Emily Davidson, the director of the Ohio Traffic Safety Office. “We know that cost can be a barrier to some who are trying to get the driver education or to get their license and we’ve been able to provide over 6,000 scholarships so far, since 2022, to new drivers in the state of Ohio.”
For resources on how to help parents and teens navigate the process of learning to drive, you can visit TeachYourTeenToDrive.Ohio.gov or download the RoadReady Ohio app.
