Before you decide to go to Traffic School there are some things that you should know. First, you can only attend traffic school once every 18 months without having a point charged on your auto insurance policy. If you attend a traffic school once in an 18 month period the violation will not be applied to your driving record. If a motor vehicle report is run the violation will not be present. If you attend traffic school more than once in an 18 month period, the second violation will appear on your driving record with a notation, dismissed. Insurance companies all know this. When a violation appears on a motor vehicle report as dismissed most insurance companies will charge a point for that violation. They know that you have attended traffic school twice in an 18 month period. Second, just because a court allows you to attend traffic school a second time in an 18 month period, it has no bearing on how that violation will appear on your motor vehicle report. It will still appear with the notation, dismissed. Insurance companies will know that this is a second appearance and charge you a point. So don’t waste your time.
Next if you are able to attend traffic school without it appearing on your motor vehicle report, do not pay the fine until after you have completed the course. This means you have to take the course before the deadline for payment on the ticket. Some courts have a box you can check on the citation that says you are going to pay first and take the course later. If you pay the fine and then take the course it is a good idea to check with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) after you take the course to be sure that you received credit. If your file has been closed there is a chance you may not receive credit. It never hurts to check up. Remember the DMV is run by people and people make mistakes.
Finally, if you are able to take the course be sure that you get a receipt and confirmation number. Sometime stuff happens. You take the course and your completion is not properly uploaded. If you have a confirmation of completion; 1) your course probably uploaded correctly, 2) if there is a problem, you have something to take to the DMV to validate completing the course. Remember, it is all done electronically.
__________________________________________________________________________________
This article(s) represents the views and opinions of Garrett Parkinson and not the Insurance Companies that he represents or illustrates in his articles.