The Last Hundred Feet
ORC 4511.39 — a signal given continuously, before the turn and before the lane change
The turn signal section is short and it is one of the most cited in the state, because a missing signal is visible from a car length behind and it is a violation on its own. What people get wrong is not that a signal is required. It is when it has to start, and that it covers a lane change as much as a turn.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Continuously, during not less than the last one hundred feet. A signal of intention to turn or move right or left is given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet traveled by the vehicle before turning. A signal that starts as the wheel turns has not met the section, and neither has one flicked once and released.
Move right or left is a lane change, not only a turn. The section reaches an intention to turn or to move right or left. Changing lanes on a straight road is a movement right or left, and the same hundred feet applies to it. A driver who signals at intersections and not between them is meeting half the section.
A stop or a sudden decrease in speed has its own sentence. No person stops or suddenly decreases the speed of a vehicle without first giving an appropriate signal to the driver of any vehicle immediately to the rear, where there is opportunity to give one.
The signal is given either by hand and arm or by signal lights that clearly indicate the intention to both approaching and following traffic. Certain larger vehicles are required to use lights, and bicycles and electric bicycles have their own exceptions to the hundred foot rule.
| The movement | What the section asks for |
|---|---|
| The movementA turn | What the section asks forA continuous signal for not less than the last one hundred feet |
| The movementA lane change | What the section asks forThe same, because it is a movement right or left |
| The movementA stop or sudden slowing | What the section asks forAn appropriate signal to the vehicle behind, where there is opportunity |
| The movementHow it is given | What the section asks forHand and arm, or signal lights visible to approaching and following traffic |
Because a missing signal is a real violation, it supports a stop whatever the officer's other reasons. That is what makes this one of the sections most worth knowing precisely: the argument about a signal stop is almost never about motive and almost always about whether the hundred feet was there.
How a hundred feet is measured in a particular case, the exceptions for bicycles and electric bicycles, and the equipment sections that govern whether the signal lights themselves are working are not on this page. What a particular citation carries, and whether a particular stop rested on the signal alone, are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 4511.39 — Turn and stop signals, and the last hundred feet
- Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806 (1996) — A traffic stop is reasonable when there is probable cause of a traffic violation
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.