Safe Driving Course

Jordan2 · ‎03-16-2010

I just finished taking the online course so I can save 10% on my auto insurance policy. I did it in three days because I wanted to get it over with. I'm not sure, but I think they claim it's a 6 hour course, no way, it's much longer. There are 8 units, each unit has several topics with many pages and a quiz you must pass after each unit. If it weren't for the 10% savings I would never take it. At least it's good for 3 years.

Irish1210 · ‎06-30-2014

I took that course a few years ago.....which reminds me, I may need to retake to keep my 10% discount!

deepwaterdotter · ‎03-09-2010

Is there a charge to take the course?

Jordan2 · ‎03-16-2010

@deepwaterdotter wrote:
Is there a charge to take the course?

@deepwaterdotter Yes I paid $24.99 for the course. They have an add on of $9.99 to have an audio version, I passed on it.

roeroe1005 · ‎03-13-2010

I remember the first time I took the course - it was offered at my job after hours. I got a speeding ticket on the way home from class!

My stupid fault - the road I was on was notorious for police hiding in certain areas. I knew where they hid and yet I fell right into the trap!

Ugh.

gizmogal · ‎05-09-2014

I took that safe drivers course through AARP. Members get a big discount on the fee for the course, so it's not all that expensive. Anyone can take the course for the full fee, even if not an AARP member.

The certificate is sent out promptly on completion and it is good for 3 years. It will get a 10% discount in auto insurance premiums from most insurance carriers. It will also wipe out a couple of points off your license record for traffic offenses that might be held against you. You get about 3 weeks to complete about 6 hours of online time to finish all the modules once you register and pay with a credit card.

Doesn't all that discount and points disposal sound worth it for just a few hours of your time? Uh, it is motivating. And thoroughly stultifying! The course is so boring and it is set up so you cannot skip even one screen. While the text is on the screen, a narrator reads it out loud, so the pace is slow and intended for dimwits. Virtually no animation. Just still photos or sketches,so it's just mostly words on the screen being read to you. It's repetitive and seems to assume you've perhaps driven 7 hours in your entire life. 5 full minutes about looking both ways at a stop sign, or knowing a yellow light precedes a red light? Several screens about the danger of driving impaired amounting yo 15 minutes of reinforcement? (Perhaps the endless part about entering and using roundabouts is helpful.)

Don't worry about the quizzes at the end each module. It's nearly impossible to fail. The only challenge is your endurance to sit through redundant, dull, material that provides very little benefit to you as a driver, but qualifies your discount. It can also be taken in two full days in a classroom as an in-person experience. Just do it online is my advice.

I was unable to use my iPad as the AARP course uses technology that requires a PC or Mac, not a tablet. That might have changed in the two years since my last course.

I will definitely renew and take this dismal dullness again when my current certificate expires. The insurance discount is valuable to me. (Car insurance in NYC is expensive.)

There are other courses besides the AARP version, but you should check with your insurance company before signing up. Not every company accepts every course as valid for discount. And many courses are way more expensive than the AARP version.

look into it here . Buy No-Doz before logging into the course.

https://www.aarpdriversafety.org/

shoesnbags · ‎03-10-2010

@gizmogal

Wow, mine was different. It was slow and boring, but the tests at the end of each section were ridiculous. Not easy at all - with so many of the questions requiring total recall of the endless statistics in the lessons. I started taking notes saved to another file so I had a reference to use. None of it was geared to actually giving you tips for safe driving, just to see if you could memorize a lot of numbers. Such a waste of time, but I did get my discount.

My friend and her husband went to an in person class on a Saturday. They said the instructor was entertaining and the test was easy. That's what I plan to do next time.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett

Icegoddess · ‎03-19-2010

I took my daughter to the BSR accident avoidance driving school in West VA after she had 2 totals. She totaled her 1st car the first time out on her own. I actually thought I got one of those scam calls when someone called me because she had just left the house. She misjudged a curve adn ran off the road and rolled the car.

These guys teach drivers for dignitaries and such in the event they are attacked. Part of the course involved in-class instruction and they allowed the parents to sit in on that. I learned a couple of things in that course. 1. Anybody can drive on ice; nobody can stop on it. 2. Don't look at that tree/pole/etc when you lose control or you WILL hit it. 3. Pivot your foot between the accelerator and the brake rather than raising your foot. That was something I really was already doing, but between that and the fact that I drive a stick, I can't imagine ever accidentally slamming the accelerator instead of the brake and running into a crowd of people.

The other part of the course involved driving on a couple of tracks, one of them a circular track that they sprayed with water to teach about how to drive in a skid. The other track was straight and they had pylons on it and at the last minute they would tell them Right or Left for them to learn how to swerve to avoid without losing control of the car.

She didn't get any discount on her insurance becasue the insurance company didn't recognize the driving school, but the driver education was much better than what she would've gotten in Driver's Ed.

She ended up having a 3rd total, but that was because she stopped for a police car that was running lights & siren and a lady rear-ended her and pushed her car in front of the police car. Of course, the lady had no insurance even though it's required in our state.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

The last time I did it, I decided it was going on the "Never Doing That Again" list. It was a been there, done that experience.

The I one I took was through AAA and every so often it stopped you from going any further until they verified it was you through voice recognition. I should have known better when I was signing up for it and had to call to register my voice.

It also wouldn't let you leave a page or chapter unit unless you spent so much time on it.

Jordan2 · ‎03-16-2010

Maybe when you took the class in person it was 6 hours, this is much longer than that. The pages are timed so you can't go ahead to the next page until the time counts down. As for the quizzes, you can not get more than two of the ten questions incorrect, you need 75% to pass. I took notes while taking the course, it's a good thing I did, because I didn't remember some things ( some questions are tricky).