The Best California Traffic Schools

The state of California has more than 175,000 miles of road, providing ample opportunity for drivers in the Golden State to make silly mistakes and find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Speeding is what gets most drivers in hot water, and traffic school is a worthwhile option to keep your ticket from impacting your auto insurance rates, now and in the future. Also, too many points can lead to a license suspension, so it’s best to keep your count as low as possible.

Top 3 California Online Traffic Schools

Choosing the Right Traffic School

Before you shop for a California traffic school, you'll want to determine if you qualify for the program's benefits. Here are a few of the rules around it:

• Unsurprisingly, you'll need a valid driver's license.
• You cannot be a repeat offender, at least not within the past 18 months.
• Your moving violation must fall within the guidelines. For instance, getting lassoed at more than 25 mph over the limit would exclude you.
• You gotta pay all the fees. If you have unresolved court costs or appearances, you'll be declined.

Reference California Rules of Court. Rule 4.104 for a complete listing of qualifications and applicable judicial discretions.

You'll also want to confirm that the school you're considering is certified by the state to help eliminate the one point applied to your record if you declined this route. The California DMV website has a complete list of approved schools to check against your choice.

By the way, your infraction can't be more than one point - for instance, if you were cited for reckless driving along with speeding. Anything more than one point isn't eligible, which is yet another reason to continually practice moderation behind the wheel. If you don't, your problems can multiply.

Top 7 California Online Traffic Schools

1. Best Online Traffic School
2. Safe2Drive
3. IMPROVLearning
4. Aceable
5. iDriveSafely
6. $5 Bucks Traffic School
7. Trafficschool.com

The 3 Course Formats of California Traffic Schools

The California DMV allows you to complete your traffic school requirements in three different course formats: classroom, home study or online.

1. Classroom Course - If you choose this option, you'll attend a classroom at a predetermined time and put in a full eight hours there before you can take the quiz at the end. This may sound like grade-school drudgery, but there is some benefit from in-person instruction, and the vast array of schools catering to all kinds of population subsets means that classroom traffic school might actually be a way to tear yourself away from the screen and go sit with people like you for a while.

2. Home Study - Going this route means having your course materials mailed to you, or you go pick them up. You'll likely need a computer or media player to access the CDs or DVDs you'll receive, but you won't need internet access to complete the course on your own.

3. Online - With everything from shopping to dating going online, it's no surprise that traffic school has maximized the internet to make itself more modular and freely accessible. Some online providers offer an interface that can be paused on a computer and then picked up again on a smartphone, which allows you to absorb the information in piecemeal portions.

How We Selected the Top Online Traffic Schools

STATE LICENSED

It's essential to confirm that whatever traffic school you're considering is within the California DMV's "Occupational License Status Information System." Yes, that's a mouthful of bureaucratic officiality, and it means is your school must be listed in the database of certified providers. The California DMV website has a complete list of approved schools.

COST

Prices for California traffic schools start at less than $10 and can end up five or six times that, depending on the amenities the school offers. Choose according to your budget, and take comfort that even the priciest California traffic schools are much less expensive than the insurance ding your extra point will bring.

WEBSITE SAFETY

Sometimes when researching California traffic schools, we came across websites that seemed amateurish and maybe a little sketchy. After filtering for apparent credibility, we then checked all the sites we've recommended against Google's Transparency Report.

REVIEWS

We refined our traffic school recommendations to those that are popular on the web, (as evidenced by number of users) and have at least 90% positive reviews on customer feedback websites, and where applicable, top ratings with the Better Business Bureau.

• Best Online Traffic School - Made in California for Californians and approved by all California courts, Best Online Traffic School boasts a perfect 5-star rating on Yelp from over 300 reviews. While still new in the industry, the company is quickly making great strides.
• Safe2Drive - With state-certified courses across a number of states, this course, approved by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, processes your completion (upon passing the final exam) directly to the courts and then emails you a copy directly. Once the court receives it, they notify the DMV so that any points on your driving record are hidden. Customers seem to be quite happy with this course, as supported by the 4.5-star rating on Yelp.
• IMPROVLearning - This school is a bit different because it aims to take the boredom out of driver’s ed. It hires standup comics and improv artists as instructors, but classes are no joke. They have a 4.7-star rating on Shopper Approved and are accredited by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating.
• Aceable.com - We covered Texas-based Aceable in our list of nationwide online traffic schools, and we include it here because of its top ratings - A+ by the Better Business Bureau, and a 4.9 star rating on Trust Pilot. Aceable's investment in technology has produced highly-rated apps on which to study; the AppStore has it at 4.9, and it's 4.7 on Google Play.
• iDriveSafely - This online school has been around for 15 years. It has a 5-star rating on TrustPilot and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating. Customers say its videos and coursework are easy to follow. Courses are approved by the state DMV toward both driver’s licenses and learner’s permits. In addition to driver’s ed courses, it also offers defensive driving course and insurance discount courses.
• $5 Bucks Traffic School - We start with the one that sounds like it should be a hard pass. Are you really going to trust a company that charges so little with something as important as a point on your license? Gotta be a scam, right? But we found consistent high praise for this online traffic school, which was established in 1998 and is based in Van Nuys. Five stars on Yelp, 4.9 out of five stars on Facebook, and 4.8 stars out of five on Google show consistent customer satisfaction, with many reviews affirming that it all really can be done for five dollars. Additions like audio recordings are available to tailor the learning experience.
• Trafficschool.com - This coveted domain name is owned by a company in Chatsworth that cranks out the customer plaudits like they were going out of style. Established in 1994, trafficschool.com's coursework offers an audio component, and many reviews mention the ease of learning the material. It gets an A+ from the Better Business Bureau, and the reviews are raves, with five stars on Yelp and 4.9 out of five stars on Facebook and Google.

See more on Car Talk's picks for the 6 Best Online Traffic Schools here.