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Defensive
Driving It was scary. Terrell Carter, a sophomore biology major, said that is how she felt when she saw a police car directly behind her car with its red lights flashing for all the world to see. She said she realized she had not made a complete stop at a stop sign. Therefore, she received a traffic ticket.
When she went to see a judge in her hometown, the judge told her she had to take a defensive driving course in order to expunge the ticket from her record. Carter said she knew she was in the wrong and the defensive driving course would help “right” the wrong but she did not know how she would survive the boredom. Taking a defensive driving class is not the most exciting way to spend an afternoon but it can actually be fun with learning and humor combined, said Brian Barker, a junior marketing major, after attending A Sense of Humor Defensive Driving in Fort Worth. Barker said the instructor made the class fun by doing skits and making nicknames for the students. Barker said his nickname was the total number of miles he exceeded the speed limit when he got his ticket. Barker said he had to put on goggles that made him feel intoxicated and the instructor asked him to try and perform simple tasks. Barker said he could not do anything with the goggles on and it showed him what it was like to drive drunk. “(The class) was a reality check for a lot of things,” Barker said. According to the National Safety Council Web site, defensive driving is needed to save a person’s life, reduce violation points and reduce insurance premiums. The Web site said an estimated 77 percent of accidents are due to driver error. Every 15 seconds, a person is injured on roadways and every 11 minutes, one of them dies. TCU offers defensive driving courses to help students improve their safety. On February 20 and 21, Hao Brown, the university workers compensation coordinator, taught a class called “The National Safety Council Defensive Driving Course.” The next class is offered 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 13 in Reed Hall. Brown said there were not any TCU students in the February class, but there were TCU staff and retirees present. Brown said the attendees were not there just for the discount offered.
“There was a true concern for better driving skills,” she said. Brown said the course is offered through risk management to encourage risk awareness in driving and to promote safe driving practices. She said the program was introduced three years ago and it is for all faculty, staff and students at no cost. The course reduces the driver’s liability insurance 10 percent for three years and it’s free. Brown said she thinks the course will improve the skills of TCU drivers. “In the long term it will be because you’re encouraging safe drivers, and improving their driving skills,” Brown said. A disadvantage to the course is it will not get a ticket taken off a driver’s record, said Randy Cobb, director of the TCU safety department. The course is also available to people who are not affiliated with TCU. For non-TCU drivers, the program is offered through the office of Extended Education for $15. Faculty, staff and students can contact Brown directly to get signed up for the course. Brown said the class is a community outreach program for people who want the discount on their insurance. There are many different ways to take defensive driving other than taking a class, such as taking a course online or renting videos. All the courses cost around $40. According to the Defensive Driving Online Web site (www.defensivedriving.com), the online course is flexible and convenient. Drivers can log on from any computer at whatever time and have up to 90 days or a minimum of six hours to finish the course. The driver will earn a certificate of completion from the state approved Internet driving course. According to the Web site, the advantages to this program are that no special approval from the court is required, the traffic tickets can be dismissed, drivers may save on auto insurance and there are fast, overnight options. Renting
videos is another alternative to taking the class. According to
That’s the Ticket DDS Web site (www.thatstheticketdds.com),
renting a video from them is more handy than renting one from Blockbuster
Video. The video can be rented from one of their authorized locations.
It is a three-day rental and can be watched 24 hours a day. Drivers
fill out a questionnaire and call their 1-800 number at various
times of the video and take a test. She said she enjoyed the humorous classes because they made time go by fast. “My favorite was the online course because it was convenient for me and I could work at my own pace,” she said. Carter said even though she thought of the course as a punishment, she said she thinks defensive driving is necessary. “It is good because it makes people who get tickets review driving material and it keeps you up to date to improve driving skills,” she said. Carter said she is in favor of learning defensive driving through any means, and would recommend both online and classroom courses. Meagan Mullin, a sophomore pre-major, said she rented the video Take Home Traffic School from Blockbuster because she received a traffic violation. She said she thought the course was beneficial to her because it refreshed her memory. “It was a good reminder of traffic signs, signals and violations,” she said. Mullin said defensive driving is necessary because some people never learned how to drive properly and everyone can always improve their driving skills. Jill
Meninger |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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