For the past two years, I’ve been recommending Traffic School 101 school and I have never received a single complaint from anyone. As a matter of fact, I’ve only received praise, particularly about their customer service (online traffic schools are notorious for poor customer service). I think this traffic school has some unique advantages and I’ve been very happy with the response I’ve received from people, so I decided to update this review for 2013.
Quick Overview
If I had to sum up this course in one word, this is what it would be: Simple. This course is not like the others I’ve reviewed. Most online traffic schools try to stuff their courses with videos, animations, a million pictures, games, etc. This course took a different approach. They wanted to make it very simple, clean, and straight forward. In this course, you’re not going to find animations, videos, or any extras. It’s a text based course and the whole point behind it is the simplicity. Because they don’t invest in fancy videos, games, and animations, they are able to keep the price down. Seems like a fair trade off. I normally don’t like the text based courses because I find them boring, but Traffic School 101 really stood out from the crowed. This is a school I very highly recommend, especially due to the positive feedback I’ve received from so many people who have already taken the course.
The Good Stuff
What makes this course so good is that it’s just really, really simple. There aren’t any “extra features” like pointless games or a voiceover that will read the course content for you. Instead, Traffic School 101 simply gives you the reqired info and leaves it at that. Not only is it refreshing to take a course without “fillers” just to take up space, but it’s good for people who have a slower internet connection as the course loads super fast. It’s also good if you want to take the course from your phone or tablet because it’s entirely text based. The course is also broken up into lots of short pages where most schools use really long pages that seem to run together. The course is clean, the company has been around for a long time, they have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and in the last 2 years I’ve heard nothing but praise about this school. I haven’t had one single complaint. If you have one, feel free to contact me anytime and let me know or just post your experience in the comments section at the end of this page. If you have a complaint, you’d be the first I received in over 2 years. That says a lot! Traffic School 101 is even rated well on Yelp and hardly any online traffic school receives a good rating on that site.
The Bad Stuff
Well, depending on how you look at it, the simplicity of the course could be a negative for you. Some people like the videos, animations, and interactive features of other courses. If that’s the case, I’d recommend looking into the iDriveSafely course or Improv Traffic School. As with any other online traffic school, you may be required to verify your identity. This is a state requirement that all courses are required to abide by. I personally didn’t have to use any identity authentication system, but you might have to in order to satisfy court requirements. This process is almost always a giant pain in the butt. You also might have to put up with course timers where you are required to spend a certain amount of time on each page before you can move ahead. Again, this is usually required by law and Traffic School 101 is forced to do it. But it’s still a negative in my book. Otherwise, I really have nothing bad to say about this course. With it being so basic and simple to use, there is little room for bugs and errors.
Course Duration
The amount of time it takes to complete depends on where you got your ticket. If you’re taking the course for insurance reduction or if your court doesn’t require the use of timers, you’ll be done in 30 minutes, tops. That’s assuming you don’t read every word on each page, though. If you do have a timer, it could take you up to 6 or 8 hours depending on where you got the ticket and the court requirements. The good news is you can save your progress and split it up over several days if you want.
Course Difficulty: EASY
Traffic School 101 is really easy to use. I didn’t go all the way through to the final exam, so I don’t exactly know what that is like, but the quizzes and everything else is really simple. In most states, you can’t fail the course anyway. You just keep taking the final exam until you pass. So if you’re worried about how difficult the course will be or that you might fail it, you can stop worrying about that now. It’s really easy and I can’t imagine anybody ever failing it completely.
Course Introduction
I only took 25% of the course since after that, I would have been required to pay and I’m a big cheapskate. So after 25% of the course, you’re on your own. Here are my impressions of the course, though…
Sign Up Process
As with most other online traffic schools, signing up is really simple. They’ll ask for your personal info and where you got your ticket. This will help them verify that you’re even eligible. Many schools out there will let you sign up for their course without telling you that they aren’t even approved for your court district, but Traffic School 101 makes it known whether you qualify or not. What’s especially nice is how you don’t have to pay them to start the course. You’re allowed to take 25% of the course for free to just try them out.
Once you complete 25% of the course, you will be required to enter payment info. Here’s the pop up window I got when I was 25% of the way through:
Identity Authentication System
I personally wasn’t required to authenticate my identity, but this is a really common thing with many courts. They can identify you through voice recognition software and some places even require you to use a web cam while you take the course. Traffic School 101 is really good about this. I received an email a few weeks ago where a guy didn’t have a web cam so he complained to their customer service department. Traffic School 101 sent him a free web cam and apologized for the inconvenience. That’s some customer service you normally don’t find with most online traffic schools. So yes, the authentication system can be a pain in the butt, however, they will work with you if you need any assistance. As a matter of fact, they keep their 24/7 support number posted at the top of your screen during the entire course.
Taking The Course
It doesn’t get any simpler than this. Traffic School 101 has a unique angle on how to present the material. Their angle is simplicity. You will not find anything complicated in this course. It’s almost entirely text based although they do throw in some pictures here and there. With it being text based, this is a mobile friendly course and works well on phones as well as tablets. Some courts require that each individual page is timed. If that’s the case, it’s a total bummer for you because you have to constantly watch the timer before you can move on. Most courts, however, are content with a timer at the end of each chapter or even a timer for the end of the course. That means, you can fly through each chapter and when you reach the end, go get a hair cut and wait for the timer to count down so you can come back to it later and do another chapter. Of course, that’s not what the courts exactly had in mind, but who cares! No need to waste any more time than you have to. If you do want to take this course seriously and read every word, you’ll definitely learn a few things. This is a quality course. But my point is, you can get through this pretty easily. I wasn’t able to get a good screen shot of the Table of Contents, but this is what it looks like:
Section I
Section II
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Section III
Section IV
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Section Quizzes
As with most online traffic schools, the quiz you are required to take at the end of each section is incredibly simple. Even if you didn’t pay any attention to the course material, you should be able to get the answers right. If you do manage to fail a quiz, you simply review the content and take another one. That process continues until you pass. This is really easy stuff, guys.
Course Quality
You’ll notice I’ve been skimpy on the screen shots for my Traffic School 101 review. The reason is, there’s just not much to show! The course is pretty much set up like an e-book. The text is large, they put in a lot of white space so it’s easy on the eyes, there are a few images here and there, but that’s about it. No videos, no animations, no games, etc. This is a very simple course to use, it’s great for slower internet connections, and it’s the perfect choice for people who don’t want to bother with boring videos, cheaply done animations, and flashy banners. This course doesn’t play that game. However, they do provide high quality 24/6/365 customer service, have secure payment options, they’ve been in business for many years, and everything else about this course is high quality.
Starting And Stopping The Course
Like most other schools, you can go at your own pace. If you want to blast through it all in one sitting, that’s fine. If you want to split it up over the course of a month, that’s cool too. They save your place automatically and there’s nothing you have to do. Since this is a text based course, it’s also great for using on your phone or tablet.
The Final Exam
I actually don’t know what the final exam is like. I only completed 25% of the course so I didn’t have to pay anything. But I imagine the final exam is as easy as every other school I’ve reviewed. For most courts, you can’t even fail it. You just keep taking the final until you pass, so it’s a non-issue anyway. But yes, there is a final exam for this course.
Receiving Credit And Notifying The Courts
For most court jurisdictions, Traffic School 101 will automatically process the certificate and send it electronically to the court the very same day you finish the final exam. If standard mail is required, they will mail it out the same day you finish the course. Many other schools force you to wait 2 or 3 days for “processing” but Traffic School 101 doesn’t have any processing time. If you do require FedEx Overnight shipping, they claim to have better pricing than other online traffic schools. Still looks pretty expensive to me, but when I look around, they are indeed cheaper than nearly every other online traffic school for expedited shipping options.
Student Reviews
There’s no shortage of positive feedback for Traffic School from their former students. Almost everyone had a great experience and thought that this was an awesome traffic school.
Students are all thankful for its hassle-free, pain-free, and time-efficient way to complete traffic school. Some even emphasized how it’s much easier and less stressful than going to a classroom full of people and staying there for 8 hours.
Its customer service is also well-praised, with students noting the efficiency of timely responses and quick turnaround time when resolving issues, especially technical ones.
Another thing, former students liked how the company sells its services upfront and then actually delivers exactly as advertised – that’s exactly what I liked about Traffic School 100, too.
When it comes to course content, it seems that everyone who took the course preferred the simple way that the program ran. Despite being mostly text-based, they found it educational and interactive in its own way.
Its convenience and affordability are also mentioned in several reviews. with their easy-to-use website, and again, the reliability of its customer support, almost everyone is completely satisfied with Traffic School 101.
They find the website easy to navigate and the content easy to follow and understand. The assistance they receive in removing your citation receives a lot of thanks as well.
It’s not just once when customers mention a representative going the extra mile to help. This just goes to show that Traffic School 101 is dedicated to helping people rather than making a quick buck.
Final Thoughts
This course is ideal for those who want to do the majority of the course on their phone or tablet. It’s also a great course for those with a slower internet connection (dial-up, satellite, wireless, etc).
Other people who might enjoy it are those who don’t want videos, games, and other things cluttering up the program.
If you just want a simple, straightforward forward text-based course, this is the one for you
State Specific Online Traffic School Reviews