The Open Container
ORC 4301.62 — an open container is not an OVI
An open container is its own offense, and it is not an OVI. It does not ask whether anyone was impaired, whether anyone drank, or whether the car moved. It asks one question: was there an opened container of beer or intoxicating liquor in a person's possession in one of the places the statute lists. Two people can be cited for the same bottle in the same car, and neither of them has been charged with drunk driving.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
The statute is also not in the traffic code. It sits in the liquor chapter, which is why the list of places it covers is wider than a road.
- In a state liquor store.
- On the premises of a permit holder not authorized for it.
- In any other public place.
- While operating or being a passenger in or on a motor vehicle on any street, highway, or other public or private property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking.
- While being in or on a stationary motor vehicle on any of those same streets, highways or properties.
Parked does not take you out of it, and neither does the sidewalk. The vehicle prongs cover a stationary car as squarely as a moving one, and they reach private property that is open to the public for travel or parking, which means a shop car park counts. Separately from vehicles altogether, the statute reaches any other public place. A cup carried down a street is inside the same section as a bottle on a passenger seat.
Consuming is a different section again. Having the opened container is 4301.62. Drinking in a motor vehicle is 4301.64, and the two carry different degrees, so the same evening can produce one citation or two depending on which the officer writes.
| Section | What it prohibits | Degree |
|---|---|---|
| SectionORC 4301.62 | What it prohibitsPossessing an opened container in a listed place | DegreeMinor misdemeanor |
| SectionORC 4301.64 | What it prohibitsConsuming beer or intoxicating liquor in a motor vehicle | DegreeFourth degree misdemeanor |
The degrees are doing real work here. A minor misdemeanor carries no jail and a fine ceiling of one hundred and fifty dollars, and the citation rule in 2935.26 reaches it, so an officer otherwise authorized to arrest issues a citation instead unless one of that section's exceptions applies. A fourth degree misdemeanor is a jailable offense, which puts it in a different category entirely.
Consuming in a vehicle can also reach a young driver's license. Where an offender who violated the consumption section was under eighteen at the time, the court may suspend a temporary instruction permit, a probationary driver's license or a driver's license for not less than six months and not more than one year. That is a discretionary power sitting on top of the degree, and it is in the penalty section rather than in the offense.
There are written exceptions, and they are narrower than the stories about them. A passenger in a chauffeured limousine seated outside the driver's compartment, under a prearranged contract, is treated differently. A wine bottle resealed at the point of purchase and carried in the boot, or behind the last upright row where there is no boot, is not an open container. And an opened container bought from a qualifying permit holder inside a designated outdoor refreshment area may be possessed at an outdoor location inside that area.
That last one is why the same cup is lawful on one block of a city and a citation on the next. A designated outdoor refreshment area is created under 4301.82 by a municipality or township, with its own boundary, its own hours and its own list of permit holders whose drinks count. The exception is tied to where the drink was bought and where it is being carried, not to the fact that an area exists somewhere in town.
The overlap with an OVI investigation is where people get surprised. An open container is a fact an officer can see, and facts an officer can see are what reasonable suspicion is built from. The offenses stay separate and are proved separately, but the container is not sealed off from everything else happening at the roadside.
“Which section is this citation written under.”
Whether a particular container counts as opened, whose possession it was in, and whether a location falls inside a prong of the statute are fact questions decided case by case. Municipal ordinances run alongside the state sections and are not word for word identical, so a city charge can read differently from the one described here. The underage provisions, the permit classes named in the exceptions, and the rules for watercraft are each their own statutes. Whether the boot exception fits a particular bottle is a question for a licensed Ohio attorney looking at the actual facts.
Sources for this section (9)
- ORC 4301.62 — Opened container of beer or intoxicating liquor prohibited at certain premises
- ORC 4301.64 — Prohibition against consumption of beer or intoxicating liquor in a motor vehicle
- ORC 4301.99 — Penalties under the Liquor Control Law
- ORC 4511.19 — Operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs (OVI)
- ORC 2929.24 — Definite jail terms for misdemeanors
- ORC 2929.28 — Financial sanctions for misdemeanors
- ORC 2935.26 — Minor misdemeanor citation issued by an officer
- ORC 4301.82 — Designated outdoor refreshment areas
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) — Investigative stops require reasonable suspicion
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.