What is traffic school?

If you are asking the question, “What is traffic school?”, chances are you have received a traffic ticket. Traffic school provides a way that you can keep a moving violation from affecting your driving record by presenting you with a course which includes safe driving techniques and a general education on the traffic laws of your state.

What is Traffic School?

A complete traffic school course should thoroughly cover the following areas:

• Recent changes to the traffic laws
• Reasons for traffic laws
• Consequences of careless driving
• Driver responsibilities
• Rights and responsibilities of a pedestrian
• Driving maneuvers
• Defensive driving
• Collision avoidance
• Road rage and aggressive driving
• Driver distractions
• Your vehicle
• The road

Of course there will be many sub-topics within those general categories, but I won’t list them all here as they will vary from state to state. The subject of DUI is not really covered because in general you cannot take traffic school for a DUI, unless ordered by a judge. Additionally, if you are charged with a criminal violation, traffic school will not help you, but you may still be ordered to take a traffic school course by a judge.

Most traffic school courses, for the purpose of masking or point reduction from your driving record, are designed to be an eight hour course. There are other types of traffic school, or defensive driving courses offered, for example, an elderly driving courses. These courses are not for masking or point reduction from your driving record, but you may take them to reduce your insurance, if approved by your insurance company. In the beginning of traffic school, insurance companies did not like the fact that you could take a traffic school course in order to prevent them from seeing the violation on your record. More commonly now, insurance companies will allow their customers to elect to attend a traffic school course for a reduction in their premium. Not all insurance companies offer this and they might only allow traffic school courses that they have approved. So you should check with your insurance company to see if this is an option for you and ask if you need to choose a particular traffic school course in order to receive credit for taking one.

The average price of taking a traffic school course is about $17.00. Of course this depends on if you opt for any upgrades or expedited services. See a related post: lowest price traffic school for more details on cheaper priced traffic schools.

That is a general overview of “What is traffic school?” You should now have a basic understanding of traffic school and now be able to answer, “What is traffic school?’ should you be asked.

What is traffic school?

Lowest Price Traffic School

Lowest Price Traffic School

So, you are looking for the lowest price traffic school? There are many low priced traffic schools available for you to choose from, but are they really a good value? The old adage, “you get what you pay for” does not necessarily apply in this scenario. Many of the lowest priced traffic school courses have hidden fees and they try very hard to get you to pay for things that you really do not need.

“Lowest price traffic school” is a fairly popular search term used in the search engines for people looking to take a traffic school course and save some money at the same time. Since Mask My Ticket Traffic School does not believe in or offer useless services which are essentially hidden fees, we thought that it would be a good idea to inform the public so that they are aware of some of the deceptive practices that some low priced traffic schools employ to separate more of your hard earned money from you. We have seen traffic schools charge customers up to $15.00 just so you can send them a FAX. That’s absolutely ridiculous and immoral.

Hidden Fees

Some of the hidden fees that you can expect to encounter if you are looking for the lowest price traffic school could include: certificate fees, a copy of your certificate, and expedited processing of your certificate. While these might not seem like they are unreasonable, they are generally unnecessary if you are taking a traffic school course on-line. Some low priced traffic schools use a bait and switch tactic by offering a low price on their home page, but then add $5.00 or more to the cost of the course once you begin registration. Certificate copies are the biggest scam of them all. You are essentially buying a receipt which has no value and cannot be presented to the court as proof of completion. You may consider having your proof of completion expedited to the court if you are close to your deadline to complete traffic school. You might think that this is necessary, but as most courts in California receive their certificates electronically, it’s probably a waste of your money. Expedited certificate processing fees can be as high as $50.00, so in the end you are probably spending more money than if you had chosen the most expensive traffic school course.

Conclusion

Do not feel pressured to opt for any additional services unless you really feel it’s necessary. In most circumstances, it’s not. Most courts have a grace period of a few days to a couple of weeks, but do not rely on that. Take your traffic school course early so you are not running up against your due date and don’t feel pressured. You have a large pool of traffic school courses to choose from so consider many things other than the price and consider that the lowest price traffic school may not end up being the lowest price in the end.

Lowest Price Traffic School

Toyota Recall - the world's biggest car recall in 16 years

Toyota Recall – The world’s biggest car recall in 16 years…

Toyota recalling 2.5 million automobiles purchased in the United States due to a likely risk of fire.

The recall will involve 7.43 million vehicles world-wide sold under the Toyota and Scion brands. It is the biggest safety-related service action the manufacturer has reported since it began a series of recalls related to the risk of unintentional acceleration in late 2009. That in addition to other issues of safety Toyota recalled 14 million automobiles during 2009 and 2010.

It is the biggest single recall since Ford Motor Co retracted 7.9 million automobiles in 1996.

Many of the vehicles involved in the new Toyota recall also had been called back one or more times due to unintended acceleration issues.

The latest Toyota recall is the response to an issue with a potentially defective power window switch on the driver’s side of the affected vehicles that, the maker claims, “may experience a ‘notchy’ or sticky feel during operation. If commercially available lubricants are applied to the switch in an attempt to address the ‘notchy’ or sticky feel, melting of the switch assembly or smoke could possibly occur and lead to a fire under some scenarios.”

Toyota already announced recalls for several models involving similar window switches and in February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it would open an investigation into the issue. But at that time it concentrated on just 830,000 Camry and RAV-4 models sold during the 2007 model year.

The massive size of the new recall underscores the hazards manufacturers such as Toyota encounter when they share fundamental parts on a wide range of vehicles seeking to improve manufacturing economies of scale.

In the U.S., the vehicles involved with the most recent recall include:

• 2007 – 2009 Camry sedans, approx. 938,100 vehicles;
• 2007 – 2009 Camry Hybrids, approx. 116,800 vehicles;
• 2007 – 2009 RAV4 crossovers, approx. 336,400 vehicles;
• 2007 – 2009 Tundra pickups, approx. 337,100 vehicles;
• 2007 – 2008 Yaris subcompacts, approx. 110,300 vehicles;
• 2008 Highlander SUVs, approx. 135,400 vehicles;
• 2008 Highlander Hybrids, approx. 23,200 vehicles;
• 2008 – 2009 Scion xD models, approx. 34,400 vehicles;
• 2008 – 2009 Scion xA models, approx. 77,500 vehicles;
• 2008- 2009 Sequoia SUVs, approx. 38,500 vehicles;
• 2009 Corolla compacts, approx. 270,900 vehicles; and
• 2009 Matrix crossovers; approx. 53,800 vehicles.

To check whether your automobile is involved, you can visit Toyota’s recall web site. The maker estimates the evaluation and repair process will take little more than an hour and involves the disassembly of the master switch and, if necessary, the application of a special fluorine grease.

NHTSA has received more than 200 reports involving problems regarding the faulty switch including fires, though there are not any known crashes or injuries. At least 39 similar problems were reported in Japan, where Toyota recalled 460,000 vehicles.

Another 1.39 million vehicles are subject to the latest Toyota recall in Europe, while the massive safety campaign also covers Australia, China along with parts of Asia and the Mideast.

In the U.S. market, the Toyota announcement is the biggest recall of the year and might revive fears about quality control with a manufacturer commonly near the top of the charts. These problems plagued the manufacturer during much of 2009 and 2010 and officials including President Akio Toyoda were hauled before Congress to describe the massive recalls associated with the unintended acceleration issue.

Toyota has repeatedly assured, since that scandal began, to ramp up the maker’s quality control process, and it is important to note that all the vehicles impacted by the latest recall were produced during or before the 2009 model year. Even so, the newest service action will yet again put an unwanted spotlight on the maker.

Toyota recalled more vehicles than any other auto maker in the U.S. in 2010 and came just short of obtaining that dubious distinction again in 2011. A substantial recall late that year, however, put Honda at the top of the list. Indeed, Honda recalled 1.7 million autos as part of three separate service actions last week – while NHTSA launched an investigation into potential problems involving another 600,000 vehicles.

While there have been a lot of recalls announced this year involving every brand from Chevrolet to Ferrari, with today’s announcement, it would appear that both Toyota and Honda are again in an undesired contest to lead the recall list again for 2012.

Toyota Recall - the world's biggest car recall in 16 years

China's automakers find new success at making better cars

BEIJING (Reuters) — China keeps getting better at making cars. One reason: It’s getting better at cutting corners.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., one of China’s biggest carmakers, conducted 20 to 25 crash tests when it developed its popular Panda model, engineers involved in developing the car told Reuters.

Global car makers typically conduct 125 to 150 crash tests for each new model. By relying more on computer simulations, Geely saved at least 200 million yuan ($31.57 million) and two years in development time on the Panda, the engineers said.

Paring back on crash tests, skimping on frills, simplifying designs, using cheaper materials and, in a departure for the industry, outsourcing most of their design and engineering are having a profound effect on the cost bases of China’s dozens of automakers.

Some are now able to sell cheap and cheerful small cars for about 40,000 yuan ($6,350) — less than half the price of a plain vanilla Toyota.

Ten years ago, no discerning Chinese consumer would have bought China-designed cars. Not only were such vehicles accused of being illegal counterfeits of foreign models, but their quality and safety were also mistrusted.

Now, despite their homely looks, some indigenous models are striking a balance between no-frills affordability and acceptable quality. In China, it is the age of the good-enough car — and that has potentially significant implications for the world auto industry.

Models such as the Panda and the Great Wall Haval H3 are becoming popular not only in China but increasingly so in emerging markets, from Indonesia to Egypt and Ukraine. They are driving China’s auto exports to record levels, even as growth in China’s auto market slows down.

Getting traction abroad

Exports of Chinese-produced vehicles are forecast by China’s auto association to hit one million vehicles this year from 849,500 vehicles last year. Some automotive analysts are predicting a 50 percent increase to 1.25 million vehicles.

Some executives at big foreign manufacturers say China’s new model of creating good-enough cars poses a serious challenge to the way the international industry operates.

“This is a warning shot to the established engineers who have told their management time and time and again that this is the minimum cost they can achieve with their existing design and production methodology,” says Shiro Nakamura, a top Nissan Motor Co. executive and the company’s chief designer. “Now the Chinese are saying they can cut another 30, 40 percent of the cost.”

It normally takes four to five years for established players like General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp. to come up with a new car from the ground up. Chinese manufacturers can now do so in just two and half years by deploying an abbreviated design process.

“Perhaps the Chinese achieve their low cost by sacrificing quality standards,” says Nakamura. “But in many ways their way also points to ‘over quality’ or ‘waste’ we have built into our conventional design process over the years.”

“My vision,” said Geely Chairman Li Shufu, “is to sell outside China the same number of cars we sell within China.”CH-Auto also has a major contract from Dongfeng Motor Co. — the 50-50 joint venture between Nissan and Dongfeng Motor Group Co. The team will develop a subcompact car based on the Nissan March (known as the Micra in Europe) to buttress a new “indigenous” brand called Venucia launched in China earlier this year.

The advent of the good-enough car is emboldening Chinese automakers to build up their own product development capabilities to rely less on CH-Auto and other independent engineering houses.

Geely, one of China’s top indigenous car makers, is expected to sell about 370,000 cars in China and 90,000 abroad this year. By 2016 the company forecasts its export volume will hit as high as 300,000 or possibly 400,000.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20120922/GLOBAL03/120929970#ixzz27PpumeKx

China's automakers find new success at making better cars

Toyota scraps plans for widespread sales of EV minicar

TOKYO (Reuters) — Toyota Motor Corp. has scrapped plans for widespread sales of a new all-electric minicar, saying it had misread the market and the ability of still-emerging battery technology to meet consumer demands.

Toyota, which had already taken a more conservative view of the market for battery-powered cars than rivals General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co., said it would only sell about 100 battery-powered eQ vehicles in the United States and Japan in an extremely limited release.

The automaker had announced plans to sell several thousand of the vehicles per year when it unveiled the eQ as an pure-electric variant of its iQ minicar in 2010.

“Two years later, there are many difficulties,” Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s vice chairman and the engineer who oversees vehicle development, told reporters on today.

By dropping plans for a second electric vehicle in its line-up, Toyota cast more doubt on an alternative to the combustion engine that has been both lauded for its oil-saving potential and criticized for its heavy reliance on government subsidies in key markets like the United States.

“The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society’s needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge,” said, Uchiyamada, who spearheaded Toyota’s development of the Prius hybrid in the 1990s.

Toyota said it was putting its emphasis on that technology, an area in which it is the established leader. Toyota said today it expected to have 21 hybrid gas-electric models like the Prius in its line-up by 2015. Of that total, 14 of the new hybrids will be all-new, the automaker said.

Toyota has previously said that it expects to have a hybrid variant available for every vehicle it sells. In a gas-electric hybrid like the Prius, a battery captures energy from the brakes to provide a supplement to the combustion engine, boosting overall mileage, particularly in stop-and-go city traffic.

Pure electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf, carry only lithium-ion batteries. Consumer demand for the vehicles has been capped by their limited range and the relatively high cost of the powerful batteries they require.

Far from target

The decision to drop plans for more extensive rollout of its eQ city car leaves Toyota with just a single pure EV in its line-up. The automaker will launch an all-electric RAV4 model in the United States that was jointly developed with Tesla Motors.

Toyota expects to sell 2,600 of the electric-powered sports utility vehicle over the next three years. By comparison, Toyota sold almost 37,000 Camry sedans in August alone in the United States, the automaker’s largest market.

Toyota is also far from its plug-in hybrid sales target. The automaker planned to sell between 35,000 and 40,000 Prius plug-in hybrids in 2012 in Japan. So far it has sold only 8,400, or about 20 percent of its target.

The plug-in Prius is designed with a battery that can be charged for just over 20 km (12.4 miles) of battery-powered driving. After that, the vehicle behaves like a more traditional hybrid and relies on its gas engine for extended range.

“We believe that there is social demand for the plug-in hybrid, but our efforts to let the customers know what it is have not been enough,” Uchiyamada said.

A broad industry consensus sees plug-in cars accounting for only a single-digit percentage of total global sales over the next decade. Nissan remains more bullish, forecasting that by 2020 one-tenth of all cars sold will be electric.

Globally, Nissan has sold about 38,000 Leaf electric cars since the vehicle’s launch at the end of 2010.

U.S. President Barack Obama has set a goal of getting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, a target many analysts say will be impossible to achieve.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20120924/OEM05/120929949#ixzz27Po2JIB6

Toyota scraps plans for widespread sales of EV minicar

Test Post from Mask My Ticket Traffic School

Test Post from Mask My Ticket Traffic School http://www.maskmyticket.com/blog