ORANGE : Driver Education Classes Approved

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to establish California’s second municipally operated driver education program for traffic offenders.

Drivers would be excused from paying their fines in return for attending the school, which would produce city revenue projected at $40,000 a month.

But the fate of the classes will depend on the Legislature. Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento) is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit local jurisdictions from establishing their own traffic schools. Moreover, Campbell, the one California city that has a traffic school, would be forced to close it down by Dec. 1 if Isenberg’s bill becomes law.

But officials said they plan to lobby legislators in hopes of having the Orange program grandfathered in should the bill pass.

“It would be convenient for citizens with fairly good driving records,” said Police Chief John R. Robertson. “It would be held in the local community and would talk about local concerns.”

“It will help people just starting to have driving problems and will probably go a lot further than just having to pay a fine or citation,” he said.

Moreover, since the program would allow people to attend the school instead of paying a fine and entering the court system, it would be a more efficient use of police officers’ time, Robertson said.

The Police Department plans to charge motorists $65 to attend the school. Robertson said the average ticket written by the department for vehicular offenses costs the driver more than $100.

The Police Department averages about 2,000 moving violations a month, officials said.

However, Robertson said he is not optimistic about the state allowing Orange to run the planned drivers education program.