OT - Online Traffic Schools?

[bwarbiany]

So, after roughly 13 years of a nice clean driving record, I've gotten a ticket. I swear the light was still yellow, officer!

Any tips on the traffic school process? Recommendations on a good one online?

Hoping to make this go away as painlessly as possible -- it's already taken a chunk out of my wallet, so the less of a hassle (and particularly the less of a time sink) the better.

[JonW]

Based on reviews I found online, I did this one last summer: paylesslowcostspeedy.com

It lets you save where you're at and come back and do it in chunks if you want. I was also able to speed through a lot of it (hmmm... isn't that what got me in trouble in the first place??), where many sites set timers on how long it must take.

[dhempy]

I haven't had the pleasure ... but I know someone that has ... IIRC you need to have something that works for your county (i.e. you couldn't just sign up for anything .. it was court approved). But the most recent occurrence was handled online ... previously it was an in class experience.

Good luck!

Dan

[lexuschris]

My last 2, I went with an online course. It was easy enough to screen capture to PDF the pages of each lesson, then search for the answers to the 'quiz section' in my resultant PDF. I whizzed through it in a tenth of the time, and would highly recommend doing that.

Unless of course you like stale pizza and hot sweaty motel meeting rooms for the 'other cheap' schools.

-_LexusChris

p.s. and yes, I left the obvious question un-answered. Let's just say that if you see me anywhere, "I walked there" is my official position.

[jward]

It seemed like OC makes you pay for both the ticket and traffic school. So, it might be cheaper to pay the ticket and be done with it. If your insurance will screw you for one ticket then one every 13 years might be to often.

[lexuschris]

It seemed like OC makes you pay for both the ticket and traffic school. So, it might be cheaper to pay the ticket and be done with it. If your insurance will screw you for one ticket then one every 13 years might be to often.

While you may still have to pay the penalty, I think you avoid the 1-point on your driving record by using the traffic school.... a good thing to check on!
--LexusChris

[JonW]

Ditto what Chris says. Most insurance will ding you on the point. Much cheaper to do the traffic school and keep it off your insurance. Note that it is no longer "keep it off your record" as it used to be, instead it is just hidden from insurance inquiries.

Also, the online one I used was pretty easy to capture the screen info and do lookups for the tests. I did it exactly like Chris did.

[bwarbiany]

Yeah, apparently traffic school masks it from my record so the insurance company doesn't see it. That's worth the cost right there.

Sounds like the PDF trick is the way to go...

How long does this take? 2 hours? 10 hours?

[lexuschris]

Yeah, apparently traffic school masks it from my record so the insurance company doesn't see it. That's worth the cost right there.

Sounds like the PDF trick is the way to go...

How long does this take? 2 hours? 10 hours?

I seem to remember doing a lesson a night, about 20 minutes each.... for 4 days... so about 2 hours or so. They are required to provide X hours of instruction, so they try to make it difficult to skip over the lesson.

I used http://www.traffic123.com ... and if you have a web camera on your computer, you can get your completion certificate submitted from home too! I ended up buying their $6 camera to finish it out.... but you can use your own..

Good luck!
--LexusChris

[JonW]

I used http://www.traffic123.com ... and if you have a web camera on your computer, you can get your completion certificate submitted from home too! I ended up buying their $6 camera to finish it out.... but you can use your own..

Good luck!
--LexusChris

Why did you need a camera for the certificate? I've never heard of that. The place I used just asked for your drivers license # to verify identity and they submit the certificate directly to the court for you.

[lexuschris]

When I did this school a few years ago, it was as simple as you indicated. However, I did this school last year again, and they now require a 'verification step', in order to prove it was really you who took the test. I think it may be state mandated.

They did provide several options. The webcam was the least intrusive and easy to do for me. There was also an option where you had to go in person somewhere and certify that you took the test.

I just tried finding this school's website, but it looks like it is no longer around. I'm sure there are plenty of options out there, so just do a little research before starting... Good luck!
--LexusChris

[bwarbiany]

FYI, I finally got around to finishing this up a few nights ago, and while it wouldn't let me print each page to PDF, a nice screen capture copy and paste to Paint and then to PDF worked fine. 100% score in under 2 hours, and I can proudly say I've learned nothing!

As a result, I've got all the paylesslowcostspeedy.com course materials available in PDF. Should anyone else have the misfortune of meeting a revenue officer on the highway and use this school, let me know and I'll send them your way.

[lexuschris]

Excellent! Congrats! Another felon driver back on the street...

Oops.. I meant 'fellow'...