After a Speeding Ticket, Consider How to Choose a Traffic School

If you have gotten a speeding ticket and are looking at options other than paying the fine, you may be thinking about traffic school. This is one option that is open to most people, but it is not always the best choice, nor is everyone eligible. Learn what to find out before you try to sign up.

You should first make sure you can even take traffic school for your speeding ticket. Some charges are not eligible, such as criminal matters. So if you were going more than twice the legal limit, or some other serious offense, you will probably have to go to court. If you are not sure whether your offense is eligible for a course, you can call the court to find out. As long as you know the code of the infraction, which should be listed on the citation, a court employee should be able to confirm that you can take a course to get rid of it. In addition, realize that most states do not allow you to take this kind of class more than every one or two years, so if you have taken one within the past 12 or 24 months, you may have to pay the fine or hire a lawyer.

Once you have determined that you are eligible for traffic school, you should consider the kind you want to take. You can take it in-person, which usually requires you to show up on a weekend day and spend about eight hours learning the laws of the road with other people who have gotten a speeding ticket. If you cannot squeeze this into your schedule, you can sign up for an online course. Just take note that you usually have to take a test at the end of the course, which is not always required when you go in-person. Plus, you cannot just skip through the class at your own pace, as you usually have to spend a certain
amount of time on it, such as four hours.

Once you choose the format of the class you need to take, you should start comparing prices. The majority of schools charge the same base price, which is what the court requires them to charge. However, they all have different additional costs, so choose one that fits within your budget. You will note that most prices are right around the same, though, so if one school seems much cheaper than others, you should be wary. Make sure it fulfills the requirements before you choose the company through which you take the course. You can call the court to confirm this fact so that you do not have to retake it through a different company.

These are the main ways to choose the right traffic school after you get a speeding ticket. Of course, if you do not want to pay a dime for it without a fight, contact a lawyer to find out your options.