Tampa, Florida (March 4, 2007)
By: RJ Adams, ADES Center
Receiving a traffic ticket is never a pleasant experience. When you do get one, you need to know about your 3 options and how they affect you. By Florida Law, you are required to make a decision and notify the County Clerk of the Court within 30 days where your received the citation.
To make an informed choice, you should first consider the Points associated with your violation and the financial consequences of accepting the Points. Points are important in Florida for two reasons.
- You receive Points for all Moving Violations. Any Points on your Drivers Record will typically cause your Insurance Rates to go up. How much depends on your age, total points on your record and other factors. Points stay on your record for 3 years.
- If you accumulate too many points, your Drivers License will be suspended. There are 3 levels of accumulation that will cause you to receive a suspended license; 12 points in 12 months, 18 points in 18 months, and 24 points in 36 months. The last level earns you a 1 year suspended license.
Now that we know why Points are important, you have three options available to you.
Option 1 - Accept the Points and Pay the Full Fine. If you take this option, you will pay the full amount of the fine and the points associated with the citation go on your record for 36 months. Additionally, while you do not have to appear in Traffic Court, you are automatically adjudicated "Guilty" and you loose your SAFE DRIVER status.
Option 2 - Attend a Defensive Driving Class and Pay a Reduced Fine. You pay a discounted fine (for most violations) and select the Defensive Driving School (DDS) Option. This notifies the court you will be attending a qualified Florida Traffic School and no points are added to your record. We recommend you attend a class prior paying the ticket, but the County will give you another 30 to 60 days after you pay the fine to complete a class.
Florida gives you an added incentive for selecting the Defensive Driving School Option. By State Law, attending a 4-hour Traffic Safety School course prohibits your insurance company from raising your rates or refusing to renew your policy if there was no accident.
Option 3 - Go to Traffic Court. You notify the County that you want to attend Traffic Court. On your scheduled day of Arraignment, you have the opportunity to enter a plea of "Not Guilty", "Guilty", or "No Contest". If you decide to plea "Not Guilty, you will most likely have to return to court on another day for the judge to hear testimony from the Police Officer and yourself. People often prefer to use an attorney when they use this option.
Why choose Defensive Driving School?
Attending a Traffic School is your smartest choice financially. Accepting the Points will cause most insurance companies to raise your rates anywhere from 10% to 25%, and you will continue to pay that increase for 3 years, plus any normal rate increases on top of that.
Consider this. If you currently pay $1,000.00 per year ($83.33 per month) for insurance and your rates are increased 15%, you will pay an additional $150.00 per year. Over a 3-year period that adds up to $450.00 or more in additional insurance payments by accepting the points.
Ways to attend Traffic School
Today you have three ways to attend and complete a Traffic School Class. You can take a traditional course in a classroom. Typically, it's a seminar style class known as BDI (Basic Driver Instruction). The class is 4 hours long and there is no test required for completion. It is standard practice for a student to receive their Completion Certificate immediately when they finish the class.
You can take an Online Internet Class. An online class is a timed 4 hour course that requires you to take a test at the end to complete the class. You can start and stop at intervals to take breaks ,or even spread the class over a couple of days. Your Completion Certificate is either mailed, Express Mailed or e-mailed to you. Depending on the School, you may pay additional costs for USPS mailing, and almost always a Premium Charge for Express Mail or e-mail delivery of your Certificate. Our school does not have any added fees or e-mail delivery charges for our Internet Classes.
The third way is to order a Video in DVD or VCR format. You take the class and the final test at home watching your TV. After you complete the final test, you mail it to the Provider and then wait for your Certificate to be mailed back to you, if you passed the exam.
Which type class is better? It depends on you, your schedule, and if you're disciplined enough to complete a class on your own.
What does a 4-hour Traffic School Class Cost?
In Florida, the benchmark price of the 4-hour BDI class is $35.00, no matter which method you use to take the course. When you take a traditional class at a school, most institutions charge this flat amount. It nearly always includes certificate processing and other State fees.
If you decide to take a class online expecting to save some money over a Live Class because there is no actual instructor, then you are in for a surprise at most schools. Further, if you naturally expected the Completion Certificate to be delivered by e-mail as part of the advertised price for an online class, you will be equally disappointed at most schools.
At many of the larger Internet based schools, the low advertised prices you see on the Web WILL NOT be your final cost at check-out time. Schools that offer only online classes still want to get $35.00. They do this by charging you for items normally included in the Live Classroom Price as "Additional Fees". Many of the fees are actually required and can add up to $15 or $20 to the price. Additional fees you typically see include:
- Certificate Processing fee -$10.00
- Florida Seal fee - $4.50, and
- A fee to deliver your Certificate over the Internet by e-mail - $9.95
Look to see if the Online School you are considering tells you up front that the advertised price is Complete, Total, or has No Additional Fees. If it does not say something similar to that, read the fine print carefully or look closely during the Registration Phase to see how much you will pay in add-on charges. If the total price exceeds the benchmark of $35.00, there is no rule that says you need to continue. There are schools that have online classes at or below the benchmark price ...and they include e-mail delivery of your certificate in the price.
How do you find a Traffic Safety School?
Using the phonebook is the official suggestion of the State of Florida. By Law no individual school can be "recommended" by the State of Florida or by the Florida DMV. The best any agency can do is give you a list of all providers in your area.
If you want to search on your own, there are two good methods. The first is through the phonebook; Verizon's SuperPages or the Yellow Pages. You can use the printed version of these or the online editions. Just search for Traffic School or Defensive Driving Schools.
The second method is using the Internet and one of the Search Engines like MSN, Yahoo, Google, or AOL. This is a quick way that allows you to shop for more information about traffic schools, location and prices 24 hours a day from any computer.
A high percentage of Florida Traffic Schools with real physical addresses are local small businesses. All are affiliated with one of the 15 Florida approved course providers and the school's Instructors are Certified. Consequently, the local schools offer students Live classes as well as an option to take the course online or by video.
In Florida, we also have large multi-state companies doing business here; either mostly or exclusively on the Internet. The large corporations may or may not have offices or actual real schools in Florida. If that is not an issue for you, consider whom you might talk to if there is a problem with your Online or Video Class. Can you visit them easily to solve a Certificate problem? Or will you be communicating with an out sourced support center technician in another country. Just food for thought. Good luck shopping!
If you are reading this page because you received a Traffic Ticket in Florida, remember, you must make a decision about your citation with 30 days. Unless there are some unusual circumstances, choosing the Defensive Driving School option is usually your best choice. Plus, keep in mind the benchmark price for the 4 hour BDI Class is about $35.00.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to visit our web site at www.ADESCenter.com. Also feel free to visit or call us at our school.
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