The state of California normally allows for a driver to attend a traffic school once every eighteen months to keep the offense and points from being placed on their driving record. As you know from attending traffic school earlier in the year if you attend traffic school, you pay the regular court fine plus a traffic school fee.

When it is your first time for traffic school within the 18 month period you have to attend an eight-hour course. Some courts will accept a traffic school offered on the Internet.

There is indeed what some have termed a "second offender" traffic school available in California if you have already attended traffic school for the first time in the 18 month period. Some judges will let you attend this 2nd offender traffic school which is a 12 hour course compare to the first offender traffic school which was only 8 hours.

When the CA court allows you to attend the second offender traffic school the DMV will not access a point against your license. However, insurance companies will know you attended the second offender traffic school and that you must have attended an eight-hour traffic school.

With a first offender traffic school, your ticket is dismissed and neither the offense nor points are added to your driving record or a mention of traffic school. Thus with your first traffic school your insurance company does not find out about your ticket. But when a driver attends a 12-hour second offender traffic school no points are assessed however the fact that you have gone to a 12-hour traffic school for this ticket will become part of their public DMV record and thus your insurance company could become aware of it.

It is our understanding that the second offender traffic school shows upon your record as "traffic school" and since insurance companies are aware that the first offender traffic school does not get placed on your record then they know this notation would mean you have taken traffic school twice in 18 months.

Here are some of the actual laws regarding attending a second traffic school within 18 months and the confidentiality of your driving record with regards to traffic schools.

Under California Vehicle Code 41501(a), which is titled Traffic School Attendance, if you have already attended traffic school for a one-point moving violation and you get another ticket, it is possible to attend traffic school again, with a Judge's permission. This portion of CA law is stated here:

(a) The court may order a continuance of a proceeding against a person, who receives a notice to appear in court for a violation of a statute relating to the safe operation of a vehicle, in consideration for attendance at a licensed school for traffic violators, a licensed driving school, or any other court-approved program of driving instruction, and, after that attendance and pursuant to Section 1803.5 or 42005, the court may dismiss the complaint under the following conditions:

1) If the offense is alleged to have been committed within 12 months of another offense that was dismissed under this section, the court may order the continuance and, after the attendance, dismiss the complaint. The court may order attendance at a licensed school for traffic violators that offers a program of at least 12 hours of instruction.

(2) If the offense is not alleged to have occurred within 18 months of another offense that was dismissed under this section, the court may order the continuance and, after the attendance, dismiss the complaint if the attendance is at any of the types of schools or programs that the court directed pursuant to Section 42005 at the time of ordering the continuance.

While the first traffic school you may take within an 18 month period gets your ticket and points from being placed on your California driving record this second violation is not totally kept from your motor vehicle record (MVR) as we previously mentioned. Section 1808.7 of the California Vehicle Code is titled Confidential Records: Traffic Violator School Attendance. Here it states:

The record of the department relating to the first proceeding and dismissal under Section 1803.5 in any 18-month period for participation by a person in a licensed school for traffic violators, a licensed driving school, or any other court-approved program of driving instruction, is confidential, shall not be disclosed to any person, except a court, and shall be used only for statistical purposes by the department.

As you can see it states that the DMV only keeps the first dismissal of a ticket and traffic school confidential so any subsequent traffic school courses you take are indeed listed on your driving record.

The VC section 1803.5 that is mentioned above notes that when a person is granted a continuance of the proceeding in consideration for attendance at a school for traffic violators, a licensed driving school, or any other court-approved program of driving instruction, and which results in a dismissal of the complaint in consideration for that attendance, the clerk of a court or hearing officer shall prepare an abstract of the record of the court proceeding and forward it to the DMV within 10 days after the complaint is dismissed.

If you were cited for a traffic violation for which you would like to take second offender traffic school to get dismissed you should contact the court listed on your citation to see if this is an option for you.To find out more about how it will appear on your California driving record and other issues, such as if this re-starts your 18 month period which you normally cannot attend traffic school, contact the California DMV directly.