Traffic schools hit information highway

The next time a driver gets caught speeding down an interstate, that pricey ticket could send him cruising the information superhighway in search of a way to keep his license.

Many computer owners already use online banking, shopping and college courses. But Missouri drivers have a new way to keep negative points off their driving records without leaving home, thanks to Internet traffic schools.

After he was sent to traffic school in 1997, Steve Soldis of Rosa, Calif., formed TrafficSchoolOnline.com, one of seven online driving courses now approved for Missouri motorists in need of such lessons.

Soldis said he resented going to traffic school. "I was forced to be there on a Saturday for hours."

The Missouri Division of Highway Safety is charged with approving such courses designed to improve driver skills. It's a growing industry. The online automotive directory www.autoguide.net provides links to 44 Web-based driving schools.

"There's plenty of competition now," Soldis said. "Back in 1997, there was no model for this. We kind of created it with timed quizzes and the questions."

In a Web-based traffic school, drivers don't have to sit in a classroom for hours on end. They can attend in privacy and at their own pace, as long as they complete the course within the timeframe set by the court. Most drivers get 60 days.

Planning ad campaign

One person has completed it in Perry County and another has registered in Scott County, he said. In California, online traffic schools are much more familiar to drivers and the courts, he said.

"It's relatively new in Missouri," he said. "So we are just getting started there. We plan to do marketing in newspapers and radio ads."

The course has 10 sections and a final exam. Students can retake quizzes and the final exam if they do not pass.

Where a driver was cited or how he was referred to take the course determines where and how the passing information is sent.

Though no one has registered for the course in Cape Girardeau County, that may be only a matter of time. Online courses shouldn't be a problem for the court, said Division III clerk Earlene Sokolowski.

"As long as it is an approved course in the state, it's their choice," she said.

Division III Judge Gary Kamp said he was not aware of the online course. Kamp also presides over municipal court in Jackson.

Cape Girardeau municipal court doesn't accept online courses, said court clerk Shea Stafford. The city receives about 20 driver course completions each month from traditional classroom courses, like those offered by Access Court Services in Cape Girardeau.

No interaction

Al Crandall Jr., director of Access Court Services, said the standard classroom environment has its benefits.

"There are some advantages" to online courses, he said. "But you don't have any classroom interaction, discussion or driver stories."

Crandall's firm is certified by the National Safety Council, which has its own online course for drivers, he said. He has offered courses for 15 years. Access typically has between 10 and 30 students in Cape Girardeau County a month.

Crandall said he has not noticed any loss of business to online courses.

For a court to accept a course completion and consider reducing a charge to a nonmoving violation, the driver can't have taken a course within three years.

Most motorists taking improvement courses have relatively clean driving records, said Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecuting attorney Gordon Glaus.

"The people who really need to go to driver school aren't the ones who are going to driver school," he said.

But Crandall sees both types of drivers.

"Occassionally we have parents who send their kids to learn to be better drivers, but I'd say about half of the people are doing it because they are in danger of losing their license," he said. "I see a variation. Some are people who want to learn better driving habits, some are there because they have to be."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160