Through the Internet and through classrooms across the United States, drivers are enrolled in traffic school, also known as defensive driving. Though this is a course that does focus on the vehicle operation safety, it is not the same as a driver’ education. Driver’s education, or driver’s ed, is a course required of new drivers in order to issue them a license to operate a motor vehicle for the first time. Over the course of a lifetime, an individual might enroll in several traffic school courses, which will remind them of safety measures and traffic laws as well as provide them with current information about new laws or regulations. Many courts offer relief from a fine or other traffic violation penalty through the enrollment and passing of a traffic school course.
Privately owned and operated traffic schools are most common in jurisdictions within the United States. These traffic schools must have approval from their state in order to eliminate citations for vehicle moving violations. This is the number one reason for attendance in traffic schools. For most non-alcoholic violations, the court will allow a defendant to take a traffic safety course and expel the citation from their record completely. Of course, the specifications and protocol for removing a citation from an individual’s record may vary depending on the location of the violation or even the residence of the violator.
There are a number of advantages to traffic school courses versus paying off the fine. The biggest reason for many enrollees is to save money on the fine. Many courts will reduce the fine or only require court costs on a moving violation if the individual passes a traffic school course. However, this is not the only reason to consider. Keeping traffic violations off of one’s traffic record will impact insurance rates. The more citations an individual receives, the higher their insurance premium will be. In the long run, the cost of a traffic school course and court costs will be well worth the change in an insurance premium. Having a clean driving record is also beneficial for getting a job that requires the driving of company cars or transportation of goods.
Today, taking a traffic school course is extremely easy, with the help of the Internet. Online traffic schools have exploded in popularity, giving people the freedom to take a course at their own pace, at their one convenience, and in the comfort of their own home. Now there is almost no excuse not to take a traffic course instead of keeping a citation on your record. It is easy, convenient, and can even be a fun, and there is never any harm in learning how to be safer while operating an automobile.
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M. Pearl (formerly M. Groh-Gordy) is a former high school and college teacher who has been a traffic school owner and instructor since 1994. Her company, InterActive! Traffic School Online currently serves traffic violators in 6 states. Her column on automobile driving is published weekly in newspapers of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group and/or the online Motorways sections of 14 California publications.
