I Drive Safely

Way back in January, I got a speeding ticket for doing 51 mph in a 35 mph zone. My court date was until March. Of of the things you can do to avoid the ticket being recorded on your license (and your insurance rates going up) is take a defensive driving course. My boss told me that he took an on-line defensive driving course to get out of a ticket he received. I actually ended up using a different one than my boss used. I used www.idrivesafely.com. The great thing about doing it online is you could take the course at your own pace. The course is divided into many chapters and you can save your spot at any time. I would typically do a chapter or two during my lunch hour. It's much more convenient than giving up a weekend and sitting in a classroom for several hours.

The online course is very thorough. It's a combination of reading and watching videos. There's a timer so you can't just keep hitting NEXT and skipping ahead. There are quizzes (about 4- 6 multiple choice questions) at the end of each chapter. If you get one wrong, it send you back to read the material over again. At least you don't have the timer the second time around and can fastforward though all the material so you can the test again.

There are also some security measures that help ensure that it is YOU taking the test and not someone else. It asks questions like your age, last four digits of your SSN, number of years you've been driving, etc.

It took a couple week's worth of lunch hours, but I finally completed the course. After you complete the course, you have to take a final exam. You have to score at least 80% in order to pass. If you fail, you have to come back and take the test another day. The nearest test site for me was a UPS Store. I ended up getting 88%. A certificate will be mailed to me which I will send in with my court costs (about $75). The online course cost about $50 so I made off fairly lightly with my ticket. One of my wife's friends got a similar speeding ticket and paid like $350 or thereabouts (and probably her insurance rates went up too!)

So if you have to take a defensive driving course, consider doing an online course like I did.