Defensive driving is traditionally held in a classroom. Now there are other ways you can take it, and one of the more popular ways is doing an online course. It doesn’t matter if you take the course online or in person, you need to make sure the course is state approved. In Texas, courses overseen by the TEA (Texas Education Agency) are approved for ticket dismissal, and must be six hours in length. If you find a course that is less than six hours, it is not going to be approved.
Online courses are available at your convenience, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. The course may be taken in any size time increments. This way the student can take the course at his or her own schedule, from the comfort of their own home if they so choose.
Here is a quick tutorial on how Defensive Driving works in Texas:
01) Get a ticket.
02) Contact the court.
03) Ask them for permission to take Defensive driving to dismiss your ticket.
04) Pay the fee to do so is necessary.
05) Take a course (in person or online) within the time allotted. This is typically 90 days.
06) Then get your certificate in the mail (both the in person and online courses mail certificates).
07) Some courts require a driving record. You can get your driving record online at Texas.gov.
08) Gather all required documents, and sign where appropriate.
09) Deliver or send documents to the court within the time allotted.
10) You will also receive an Insurance Certificate. Give that certificate to your insurance agent.
11) You may be able to lower your insurance premium for 3 years.
If you receive another ticket, the rule is one course every 12 months to dismiss a ticket, at the judge’s discretion. What this means is, if you have taken this course just for the insurance discount, it doesn’t count as “to dismiss a ticket”, so even if you get a ticket the day you finish the course to renew your insurance discount, you can still take another course to dismiss that ticket. “At the judge’s discretion” means that even if you haven’t taken a course in the last 12 months to dismiss a ticket, the judge isn’t required to allow permission to take a course; he may deny it. It also means that even if you took a course last week to dismiss a ticket, he may grant you permission to do so again even though it hasn’t been 12 months.
Defensive driving is a great way to not only dismiss a ticket and to lower your insurance premiums, but by becoming a better driver, you help make the roads a safer place. It is also a good idea to brush up on old laws and learn about new ones. For more information on this topic, all you have to do is visit a defensive driving site today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.