The guidelines for taking traffic school or a defensive driving class to keep a citation or points off of your driving record vary from state to state. In many states there is a limit of how many miles over the posted speed you can be cited for going to be allowed to take traffic school.

In some states, the limit is if you are over 10 mph the posted speed limit, thus if you were going 15 mph over you cannot take traffic school to take care of the ticket. In California you are not eligible for traffic school if the speed cited is more than 25 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.

Many state Department of Motor Vehicle sites list the eligibility rules for traffic school or driver improvement classes. So check with your state's DMV site or call them to find out how many miles over the speed limit is allowable for a driver to still be eligible to take traffic school.

Our article What To Do After Receiving A Traffic Ticket also touches on the topic of attending traffic school.