Traffic Schools Offer Comedy, Lunch, Thrift as Incentives

Be they gourmets, gamblers, penny-pinchers or just people with a desire to be entertained, most errant drivers can find a traffic school that exactly suits their tastes.

In the last several years there has been a proliferation of specialty traffic schools in Los Angeles hoping to cash in on the California vehicle code violator’s desire for a clean driving slate.

Bad driving has grown into such a big business that it isn’t enough for schools simply to offer improved driving skills and lower car insurance costs. Now they promise to make you laugh, sate your appetite for gourmet lunches, keep your wallet fat with super-saver prices and even fulfill your urge to gamble with free lottery tickets.

The Los Angeles Municipal Traffic Division alone receives between 6,000 and 7,000 applications for traffic school a month, deputy clerk Candyce Durham said.

Statewide, the Department of Motor Vehicles puts the figure at 550,000 annually.

Option for Violators

Attending traffic school is an option the courts make available to violators once a year in lieu of paying a fine, Durham said. After eight hours of instruction, a driver can have most minor violations wiped from his record.

In the case of more serious violations, such as drunk driving, court-ordered traffic school may be a prerequisite for keeping a driver’s license.

Traffic schooling has been gradually refined since its early days when instruction consisted mostly of scaring violators with gruesome photos or films of highway accidents, Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Gina McGinnis said.

Today’s schools emphasize such things as defensive driving and avoiding stress on the highway.

But the big change in the industry came two years ago, she said, when the state, responding to consumer and industry complaints of widespread fraud and abuses, decided to tighten restrictions on traffic schools. They must be licensed as well as accredited by the DMV to operate.

A DMV-approved list handed to traffic violators at court is now the traffic schools’ major source of advertising. A quick scan reveals that many operators have resorted to gimmicks and eye-catching names to get a jump on the competition.

Comedians Teach Classes

Ray Regan, for example, hired comedians to replace his California Highway Patrol officer instructors and changed the name of his 40-branch West Coast Traffic School in 1984 to Lettuce Amuse U-Laff N Learn Terrific School.

Regan, who charges $26 for eight hours of instruction, said he has nothing against CHP officers, but it is easier to train a comic to teach traffic rules “than make a policeman funny.”

The Guaranteed Not to Be Boring School offers a $5 rebate if it fails to live up to its name, salesman Lloyd Allen said.

Ever willing to please, the $25 fee also includes “the gory still pictures, if that’s what you want,” Allen said.

Gwen Michael, owner of a San Diego-based traffic school chain, cooked up another approach.

Her Lunch ‘N’ Learn School at Fine Area Restaurants does just that, offering a gourmet meal of prime rib, salmon or Delmonico steak and instruction for $29.

Los Angeles-area residents can choose from a variety of plates dished up at posh hotels and restaurants, including Shanghai Red’s in Marina del Rey, Reuben’s Plank House in Northridge and the Pasadena Hilton.

Unabashed gamblers might want to try their luck with the Free Lottery Ticket & Low Cost Class, which offers instruction and a chance at the big spin for $20. For the budget conscious there are a number of bluntly coined offerings, including Cheap School and Pay Less Money Super Saver.

Pay Less offers the basics--no lunch, no lottery ticket--at such no-frill locales as bowling alleys and Masonic lodges for $15, owner Norman Weiss said.

Citation holders wishing to combine a little shopping with fulfilling their court obligations might try Sears Roebuck & Co. or May Company, which offer classes at most outlets for $25. And, yes, you can use your store charge card.

Gimmicks Defended

Some traffic school operators defend their gimmicks, saying that with them they do a more effective job of training good drivers.

“I can sincerely say the comedians do a better job,” Regan said. “If the people don’t like the teacher, they are not going to learn the message.”

“We try to pick locations that are unique,” Michael said, “places that are conducive to learning and make a nice atmosphere.”

McGinnis said not everyone is pleased with the proliferation of names and gimmicks, some of which may be misleading or detract from the real purpose of the traffic school program.

She said companies with more old-fashioned names complain of unfair competition and added that the DMV is considering measures to restrict the names promoted by the 350 licensed traffic schools.