I took the one offered by American Safety Council. There are others. I chose that one because, well, because. As expected, it was an exercise in excruciating boredom. But I assume that's true of the other available classes, but I can't say for sure, since I didn't take the others. Ah, hell, who am I kidding? I'm sure the others are also terribly boring.
What I'd really like to know is whether these classes actually improve highway safety -- and how much. I suppose there's some positive effect, since I know that I am more conscious of some highway safety issues for some amount of time after I take that class. But I doubt that the classes improve safety enough to actuarially justify a 10% discount. If they did, then the insurance companies would, of their own volition, give the discount for taking the class; there'd be no need for the DMV to require it.
A couple other observations:
- The ASC needs to improve their biometric confirmation system. Before the class begins, you have to call in and read a bunch of numbers from which they create some kind of voice profile. Then, while taking the class, you will occasionally be told to call a phone number and read more numbers. Their system uses that to confirm that it's really you taking the class.The first three times I went through it, after I read the numbers, a recording informed me that I had failed the biometric screening. But it continued as if all was well. The fourth time I failed the screening, I was locked out of the class and had to call to talk to a real person to get unlocked. This raises a question: Those first three times that it said I failed, did I actually fail (which means there's a four strikes rule), or is there a glitch in their software that makes it sometimes say you failed when you passed? I say sometimes because there were a couple times that it said I passed.
- Whoever put the thing together got sloppy. The narrator's voice was, almost always, reading the words that were on the screen. But I noticed a couple places that there was a URL displayed, but the narrator read off something different. Also, there were a couple words (chassis and susceptible) that were consistently mispronounced.
- I am in no hurry for the next three years to go by. I don't look forward to taking this again.
May I make what, at first, may seem an odd or inconvenient suggestion, but goes a long way toward minimizing the boredom associated with Defensive Driving courses.
ReplyDeleteEsther and I have done it for many years – but we have always gone to the class in person! I cannot imagine the utter boredom (let alone the additional distractions) of taking such a course online.
Yeah, it’s the same old stuff – but you can interact with the instructor, or kid around or otherwise comment and converse with the persons around you. This does a lot toward your comprehension… and keeping yourself awake.
Even when I worked very long and hard Monday-Friday, we still did this on Saturday mornings or afternoons. Oddly, it was a welcome break from routine, and we’d always have a nice lunch or dinner out, once it was over – making a nice day of it, rather than a long and boring ordeal.
Interesting perspective on it. Yes, the classroom version is probably more interesting -- it's been many years since I did the class in a classroom.
DeleteBut, despite it being more interesting, the in-person version has two important drawbacks:
1) You have to take it on their schedule; and
2) It costs more.
So, while I like the idea of looking on the bright side and making a day of it, I won't be doing that anytime soon.