Joe Van Leer, Sentinel Correspondent
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on September 27, 2000

Mention the phrase "traffic school" to most people and the word "boring" usually follows.

But that was before driver-improvement classes popped up on the Internet.

Now some drivers are forgoing the sometimes mind-numbing classes for a more convenient way to shave points off their licenses by taking traffic school on their home computers.

John Swigart, who has taken classes in person and online, prefers the cyberspace version.

"You sit in the comfort of your own home and learn some amazing statistics like how many people are dying on roads every year because of drunk driving, speeding and racing red lights," said Swigart, whose latest traffic infraction was for speeding.

Swigart owns a commercial window-tinting businesses that requires a lot of driving in Central Florida.

"The safety course helped slow me down," he said.

Swigart, 50, erased the points recently after attending Florida Online Traffic School, the first such cyberspace course of its kind in the state.

Bob Proechel, the school`s owner, has 25 agents or licensees who are marketing the school throughout Florida.

After getting approval from the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and spending thousands of dollars, Proechel launched the school in July.

"My goal is to reach the 3.1 million people who got tickets last year and didn`t attend a traffic school," Proechel said. "Out of about 3.6 million, 550,000 went to traffic schools."

Proechel, who also owns a conventional traffic school -- Absolute Traffic Academy -- based in Winter Park, said he thought, "Why not have a school where you don`t have to sit for four straight hours and possibly listen to a boring instructor?"

"With the online school you can log on at your convenience and take the course at your own pace," Proechel said.

He is not sure of the exact number of online students but said business is growing.

But just like traditional classes, you can`t leave early from the cyberspace course.

You`ve got to put in the full four hours, and the system is set up to monitor how much time a student puts in.

Users visit many sections at the online school, learning about traffic safety and then answering multiple-choice and true-and-false questions.

If answered correctly, they move on to a final exam of 40 questions.

Users know their scores right away because computers immediately grade the exams.

They have to earn 80 percent to get a passing certificate.

"At least on the online course people are reading and comprehending important traffic safety information," Proechel said.

"With live schools, you have to attend and sit there," he said.

The Internet and conventional schools cost the same, ranging from $30 to $39. The average cost is $35.

Individual passwords and user names are issued to gain access to the program.

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Article From: The Orlando Sentinel Joe Van Leer http://www.orlandosentinel.com