My insurer gives me a discount if I take a defensive driving class. It lasts for 3 years. Last dose expires this month.
In the past I have taken the National Safety Council’s and the American Safety Council’s course. (I prefer NSC.) This year they had a new choice: Improv Traffic School. I took it. It was a few bucks cheaper. I hoped it would amuse. It didn’t.
It had a few misspellings and one mistake (on a fine point of state law). Worst, it required that I spend the required time on the material. I finished in about a fifth the time. (My memory’s still good enough to remember the old lessons; I could have passed the test without taking the course.) I suspect this may be because it’s also traffic school, good for taking points off one’s record. I think I’ll go back to NSC in 2027.
I’m not sure if you’re eligible for it, but AARP’s online Defensive Driving Class is not too onerous. It allows you to stop and start whenever you want, and while you do have to “watch” all of the videos, I was able to ace their tests even thought I did things like balancing my checkbook while the videos were playing.
The cost is reasonable ($15??) for AARP members, but I think that non-members pay a bit more.
What they teach in those classes would make a good discussion thread.
I’m sure that they teach you to not turn your wheels when making a left turn until it is time go, in case you are hit from behind. What else do they teach?
I had to take a class for getting a speeding ticket in California a number of years back, and the number 1 thing I remember from that is how they talked about how accidents are caused when someone does something unexpected: Run a red light, not stop when they should, go faster than allowable. It isn’t so much the rule breaking that causes issues, it is that others are expecting you to do what is expected, and when you do not- accidents happen.
I had never had it explained that way to me before, and it really clicked with me.