Florida Online 4-Hour Traffic School (BDI)
If you have received a ticket in any Florida county and you plan to attend traffic school to keep the points off your license, you can take this 4-hour Basic Driver Improvement (BDI) course. Taking this course voluntarily for a Florida moving violation can prevent your insurance rate from increasing unless you were at fault in a crash (§626.9541, F.S.).
You can also sign up for this course if you have been ordered by a judge or court to attend a 4-hour traffic school course, or if you have been ordered by the Florida DHSMV to attend a Traffic Collision Avoidance Course (TCAC).
Florida Online 8-Hour Traffic School (IDI)
You can sign up for this course if you have been ordered by a Florida judge or court to attend an 8-hour Intermediate Driver Improvement (IDI) course. Our course is approved in all 67 counties in Florida. Some counties (primarily Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Orange) allow a driver to elect to attend an IDI course if he or she has already elected to attend a 4-hour Basic Driver Improvement course within the past twelve months. If you are not sure whether this is the course you need, please review the paperwork you received from the court or contact the court for assistance.
NOTE: This is not an Aggressive Driving or DWLSR course!
Important Information about Your Florida Traffic Ticket
Your automobile insurance premium can go up hundreds of dollars for just one Florida ticket! Fortunately, if you receive a Florida traffic ticket, you can keep points off your license and keep your insurance from increasing by signing up for traffic school.
This is possible because Florida law states that if you elect to attend Florida traffic school for a moving violation and you did not cause a crash, your insurance company cannot raise your rate, cancel your policy, or refuse to renew it (§626.9541, Florida Statutes). Also, by signing up for Florida online traffic school, you will get to keep your safe driver status (if you had this before you got your ticket).
You can elect to attend Florida traffic school unless:
- You have already elected once before within the past calendar year;
- You have elected five times within your lifetime;
- You hold a Commercial Driver's License (CDL)*;
- You received a Florida speeding ticket for driving more than 30 mph over the limit.
*CDL holders might be able to attend the BDI course for point dismissal if they get a court order.
Contact the Florida Clerk of the Court
If you decide to go to traffic school, you must notify the clerk of the court in the county where you received your ticket. Each county has its own system for traffic school election. Please check the rules with the county in which you received the citation BEFORE you pay your ticket!
Once you have completed the Florida online traffic school course, you will need to turn your completion certificate in to the court. Although we report student completions to the court in many cases, it is ultimately YOUR responsibility to make sure the court has received your completion certificate. If the court does not receive proof of course completion, your driver license may be suspended by DHSMV.
In Miami-Dade County, you have 120 days from the date you pay your Florida ticket to complete your Florida traffic school course and turn in your completion certificate. In most other Florida counties you have 60-90 days from the date you pay your Florida traffic ticket. It's a good idea to make a copy of your certificate for your records before you send it to the clerk of the court.
Looking for a Classroom Course?
State College of Florida's Traffic Safety Institute is proud to serve Manatee County, Sarasota County, and the surrounding areas by offering quality online defensive driving courses through this website. This endeavor is part of our educational mission to train Florida's driving population using the latest technology and the most current safety information available. The primary goal of our traffic school program is to actively reduce the number of traffic crash fatalities and injuries that occur on Florida's highways each year. We hope that you will join us in this enterprise by obeying Florida's traffic laws and remembering to buckle up each time you get into your vehicle.
