My son recently got a speeding ticket in Alabama. He is licensed in TN. Can he go to court and request driving school? This is his only ticket in AL.

Your son will need to contact the court listed on his Alabama speeding ticket to see if he eligible to take traffic school or a defensive driving with his Tennessee driver's license to take care of his AL ticket.

County traffic courts may have different procedures for a driver to apply for driving school so it is important that he counts the court listed on his ticket, however for informational purposes here is information from a couple of County courts in Alabama that allow driving school as a way to dismiss a ticket.

Traffic offenses that qualify for a defensive driving course according to the Madison, Alabama municipal court include:

• Driving on the wrong side of the road
• Failure to dim headlights
• Headlights required
• Failure to yield right of way
• Failure to stop at railroad crossing
• Following too closely
• Improper braking
• Running red light
• Running stop sign
• Improper use of divided highway
• Following emergency vehicle
• Failure to yield to emergency vehicle
• Avoiding intersection
• Disobeying traffic control device
• Improper lane usage
• Improper lane change
• Reasonable and prudent speed
• Speeding less than 25 mph over the posted limit
• Speeding 25 mph or more over the posted limit

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The general information regarding the defensive driving course that this county traffic court gives is:

1. The advantage of attending the course is that your ticket will be dismissed and will not result in points added to your driving history. The court does not have any control over your insurance rates.
2. The cost is $154. To qualify for the level I class you must not have attended driving course anywhere over the last 2 years.
3. The level II driving course is required if you have attended a defensive driving course within the last 2 years.
4. To register for either class, one needs to come by the court office during regular business hours and prior to your scheduled court date. All pertinent information will be given to you at that time.

As a second example, the Jefferson County traffic court states that to dismiss a traffic violation (from the eligible ones listed above) that one must first apply to have your case dismissed upon completion of a defensive driving school and payment of court costs. This will allow a person to avoid a court appearance and prevent the accrual of points assessed against an Alabama driver's license as a result of the cited offense.

According to this Alabama County's traffic court, to qualify for driving school as a way in which to dismiss a traffic violation you must meet the following criteria:

• Be charged with an offense eligible for driving school (since your son was found speeding it appears that this is normally a qualifying offense)
• Have not received a moving violation in the past 3 years (if your son has some in his home state of TN he would need to ask the court listed on his citation if they would apply or if the court is only interested in AL violations)
• Have not been arrested for a DUI; and
• Be approved for driving school by the district attorney

For Jefferson County driving school eligibility to be determined the person cited must contact the district attorney's traffic unit within 14 days of receiving the citation and request defensive driving. If the motorist is approved the case will be dismissed only after completion of the course and sending in a copy of the certificate and payment of court costs to the court clerk.

So it appears that it is possible for your son to request driving school for his Alabama speeding ticket but he will need to speak to the court and perhaps the district attorney to find out for certain and get approved. If the ticket is not able to be dismissed with traffic school then the AL courts will likely inform your home state of Tennessee about his speeding violation. The TN DPS stated to us that if they are notified of out of state moving violation convictions, such as a speeding ticket from Alabama, the offense will go on your son's TN driving record and points will be assessed.

If the AL traffic ticket is placed on your son's Tennessee driving record then his insurance company will see it the next time they pull his MVR. At that point it would be up to the insurance carrier's rating system to determine if this out of state speeding ticket will affect his car insurance rates or not.