Dismiss Your Ticket with an Online Defensive Driving Course (Texas)

 If you’ve been caught speeding a bit or being involved in any other minor misdemeanor on the road, there’s a way you can get out of it clean. You’ve probably heard of this before, since it’s a law implemented for a few years in quite a number of states, Texas being among them. If you’re willing to enroll in an otherwise useful course which teaches you some basic defensive driving techniques, the state will wipe your slate clean of a few problems, just as an incentive. This incentive can take the form of a speeding or parking ticket forgotten, or an offer for an insurance discount. You know, the basic two ways of sweetening the deal: forgiveness and money. Actually, Texas is among the states with the biggest incentives there are, according to this list. Another reason why you should consider enrolling for a defensive driving course in Texas is the fact that you might actually learn something useful and become a better driver.

According to its official definition, a defensive driving course is supposed to teach you how to drive in a way that aims to save lives, money and time in spite of potentially unfavorable conditions or of the actions of the other around you. That means that the more people go through a course like this, and hopefully apply it on the road as well, the safer the driving environment will become, the lower the rate of accidents will become and so on. It might all sound like wishful thinking, but every change is usually so gradual and made up of so small changes, that it’s very hard to perceive at once. If you take this extra step and become a safer driver just for yourself and the friends or family that might happen to share the car with you, you will contribute to the change. At least that’s the plan behind this policy, and that is why lots of people are signing up for these online training programs. Well, there are also the incentives, admittedly.

Who Organizes a Defensive Driving Course in Texas?

There are three types of institutions which are allowed to organize such a course in a government-approved way. That means that while the other courses are by no means illegal or anything, while you may still learn valuable lessons from them, they will not provide you with the incentive promised by your state unless the course is indeed recognized and approved, state-wise.

We mentioned above that there are three types of institutions which organize these courses. These are: state agencies (ask your local police about them), several NGOs (just check if their courses are approved), or some private schools (it’s also important to check their credentials as well). To not disrupt your daily routine, it’s easiest to take such a course online. You can search for an online defensive driving course for Texas under a variety of names, since they can sometimes be found under different titles: traffic school, defensive driving school, DDC, DDC for instructors (if you want to take things to the next level and become an instructor yourself) and so on.

What Costs Should You Expect?

This would very much depend on the school and how advanced the preventative techniques you will learn are. Generally, you could expect the lowest price to be around $50 and the highest $300. Still, even if you go for a really expensive one, if you get an insurance discount as an incentive (which can go as up as 15%), you will still get your investment back in a relatively short time.

Where to Apply for an Online Defensive Driving Course within Texas?

The best places to start searching for one are either by directly asking your local police station for some guidance, or by searching directly online. A good place to start your search for a state-approved online defensive driving course for Texas is by browsing the list of all such approved courses here. As we said, the course you’re enrolling for needs to be state-approved only if you want it to lead to you receiving the incentive which Texas promises. And of course you want (and need) that too, so make sure you only apply for a registered one.

Another thing to consider is applying for a course that seems to fit you better. There are various adaptations of this basic course for different age groups or for a preferred gender, to better target the problems and driving issues with which that particular group may be faced. Some of these courses may be named “Defensive Driving for the Mature Driver” or “Alive after 25” and so on. Once you manage to find the Texas online training program that seems to fit you best, all you can do is apply and expect that in a few weeks you’ll be done with it. This will hopefully prove to be a valuable experience to you and you will gain more than just the incentive from it.