Upon receiving my official letter and traffic school information in the mail for the first time, I knew I wanted to do this right the first time- no do overs please. I wanted to sign up for traffic sc... Read More
Upon receiving my official letter and traffic school information in the mail for the first time, I knew I wanted to do this right the first time- no do overs please. I wanted to sign up for traffic school, do what was required of me, and submit my certificate to the DMV without any issues of completion since my traffic school needed to be done within 10 days (yep, I procrastinated). So how was I to choose a school? I felt I needed to choose a traffic school that was recommended on the list that was sent to me by the DMV, because apparently, there are some traffic schools that are not legit. Okay, no problem. Let's start by checking the online reviews of the ones in my area. Whoops, looks like there aren't any. Guess I need to choose one and take the plunge. So I chose Star Driving and Traffic School. I didn't know how this process worked (since I had never had a traffic ticket before) and anytime I don't know how a process works, I get worried, because anything can happen if either you or the other parties involved don't do things the right way. It's for this reason I like to try to handle things in-person.The first thing you need to know is they seem to work primarily by phone. If you arrive at their door unannounced, there's no guarantee that someone will be there. I did see hours posted on the door when I showed up randomly (to sign up myself for traffic school with a live-person), the door was locked. I didn't have a problem with this, because I find many legitimate businesses that are small businesses operate this way.In calling, I was greeted by a live-person, a woman's voice. Although the phone connection was a little hard to hear, she was very official. When I explained I was looking for traffic school for a ticket, she explained that they had four-hour class on Thursday evenings, or 8-hour class all day on Saturdays. One thing that was a confusion at first was that I didn't know how many hours I needed, but this became clear after the conversation with the woman- I needed to complete 8 hours of traffic school. Since my due date was only days away, I decided to sign up for the $40 fee and get it all done on Saturday. They accept cash, check, and (I think) money order. It wasn't very difficult, just give her your name, tell her what day you want, and then she explains that you need to bring $40, your DMV traffic school paper you received in the mail, what their location is, and what time to be there.Star Driving and Traffic school is located on Alameda just at the border of Burbank and Glendale, near Glenoaks. They are on the opposite side of Alameda from Trader Joes, and they are about a half of a short block down the street from the parking lot that is designated for CVS pharmacy. The driveway that leads to their rather small parking lot in the back is easy to miss, and despite what the strict parking signs say, if you are going to the Star Traffic, you can park back there. I didn't because I thought it was for the workers of other businesses in the building. Street parking is available if you can find a spot, which can be tricky to find. It has parking signs that say 2-hour parking only, but we were told that no one has enforced that for years, so I suppose you park their at your own risk.Once you've parked and found the building, they are not difficult to find because it's the first door on the first floor. The facility is nothing fancy, but seems adequate enough for a class. Our class had about 8 or 9 people, perhaps if the class had more people it could be uncomfortable. The teacher was great. He encouraged us not to worry when we were asking nervously about the test we had to take. Yet, still, he is dedicated to the class enough to make sure we understand everything, including obscure traffic laws. He makes the class simple because he knows the traffic laws are ambiguous and conflicting. He definitely knows his stuff. He even holds a seminar each year with police and fire men to go over laws with them and how they choose to enforce those laws (because written law is ambiguous). In eight hours, I had laughed, learned and cleared some confusion on driving laws and this definitely made the time go by in an easy and pleasant manner. He was upfront about the law, how law enforcement handles situations, what situations are the most dangerous, what situations he has been finding get the most tickets for, and just lots of other information that a driver- new or old- would find valuable for surviving the world of legal risk that driving comes with. He made a pot of regular coffee (nothing fancy), but if you want anything else you can stop at the Starbucks down the blocks before hand. We had a 15 minute break, and then later an hour or so for lunch. There's food/drink places in both directions on Alameda.I hope not to be back, but if I ever need to deal w/ anything traffic related I'll come here- they know what they're doing and they care about the drivers first. Read Less