AARP's online Driver Safety Program?

[Barber]

DW and I recently completed online course. It took about three hours each. I don't understand the negative comments when the in person course is 8 hours. We received our insurance credit immediately upon presentation of completion certificate number. I recomend this course. It refreshes and reminds of bad habits acquired over many years.

 

[East Texas]

I took it four months ago. Texas requires a defensive driving course be a specific length of time (the in-person ones I took were a little over seven hours). I'm trying to remember - I think the pace of the AARP course put me right around seven hours.

 

[Nords]

DW and I recently completed online course. It took about three hours each. I don't understand the negative comments when the in person course is 8 hours. We received our insurance credit immediately upon presentation of completion certificate number.

If the whole online course took you three hours, then I don't understand how it took AARP two hours to get me midway through module two of eight. The elapsed time and the number of modules remaining suggested a trend that I wasn't willing to endure.

 

[East Texas]

My spouse and I would sit through a defensive driving class every three years to keep the discount. They usually cost about $30 per person. They would be either all day on a Saturday or split in half over two days during the week.

Since we've taken so many in-person classes, the AARP online course was an excellent change in pace. Yes, we each had to pay for the course, get our own signons, and take the tests. It's the same way as in an in-person class. The nice thing about the online course is we could take it at our own pace in the comfort of our house.

I can see why you're frustrated if you've never taken an in-person defensive driving class before. They can be so boring. At least the AARP class was designed for the "older" driver's perspective and was surprisingly interesting. When the current three-year period ends, we'll definitely take the AARP course again.

I just checked. The Texas requirement for DD is a six-hour course. If Barber took the AARP course, I don't know how it was done in three hours since the course is a paced course.

 

[braumeister]

If the whole online course took you three hours, then I don't understand how it took AARP two hours to get me midway through module two of eight. The elapsed time and the number of modules remaining suggested a trend that I wasn't willing to endure.

Methinks "Barber" must actually be an AARP employee, and can safely be ignored.

BTW, Thanks to Nords for the warning about this course. I had been considering it, but there's no way I could put up with that nonsense.

 

[Nords]

Methinks "Barber" must actually be an AARP employee, and can safely be ignored.

It does sound that way, but over the years I'm perpetually surprised by what inspires this board's lurkers to decloak.

This course is just hostile to my learning style. If they gave us the "Next" button right away then I'd probably be a little happier. Or, heaven forbid, give us the PDFs or the PowerPoint slides and let us read through the whole thing. Or, golly, here's an idea, just give us the tests at the start of the class and see how we do. But maybe I need to age another 20-25 years before I'll appreciate the curriculum as much as some of the graduates in the testimonials.

This curriculum issue used to come up a lot at our training commands. Someone would design a course for their favorite subject in a way that made sense to the developer but would only serve to annoy the students (who would then find ways to take it out on the instructor). We'd suggest changes and be told "Oh, the curriculum design standards don't let you do it that way." We'd respond with "Well, if you make the changes, would learning still occur, or are we trying to prevent that?" Usually we ended up ignoring the design standards that weren't working for us, and you usually couldn't see any difference.

 

[braumeister]

This curriculum issue used to come up a lot at our training commands. Someone would design a course for their favorite subject in a way that made sense to the developer but would only serve to annoy the students (who would then find ways to take it out on the instructor). We'd suggest changes and be told "Oh, the curriculum design standards don't let you do it that way."

I remember that well. Spent a couple of years as an AFROTC instructor, which began with a one-month (IIRC) course in how to design a course. Totally lockstep all the way, no room for creativity. Like you, we mostly ignored the rules and did what made sense.

 

[East Texas]

Call several places in your area that offer the defensive driving class and ask how long the course is to get the insurance certificate.

 

[Barber]

To correct above comment. I am a retired barber with no connection to AARP other than using there auto/home insurance for many years. I DO NOT agree with their political alignment or all of the mailings. DW and I did take the online course as stated and will take it again in three years. I am sorry if we don't ALL agree, but that is what makes forums so lively. Have a good day.

 

[Nords]

Call several places in your area that offer the defensive driving class and ask how long the course is to get the insurance certificate.

The reason I'm going online is because Oahu appears to lack any defensive driving classes, let alone "several"...

 

[Bestwifeever]

Slow paced as the AARP program is based on Nords' description, at least you don't have to sit through theresponses to teachers asking "Are there any questions?" every few minutes, which I'm sure they do in the real-life classes.

 

[East Texas]

It appears Hawaii has not approved the American Safety Council defensive driving curriculum and that's why you can't find an "in person" course.

I know times may have changed, it used to be you could not get credit for defensive driving unless you lived in a state with an approved curriculum. I believe you said you spoke with a USAA customer service person and they said you were eligible for the discount in Hawaii. If I misunderstood and you did not speak with them, you might want to call first before you expend more energy.

 

[Nords]

I believe you said you spoke with a USAA customer service person and they said you were eligible for the discount in Hawaii. If I misunderstood and you did not speak with them, you might want to call first before you expend more energy.

(and from the first post in this thread)

USAA affirms that they'll reduce our premiums by nearly $40/year for three years if spouse and I complete AARP's program. We'll presumably get a certificate or some other voucher from AARP which we'll report to USAA. USAA claims they don't even need verification-- just our word that we've passed the course and received the credit.

I think that with only ~1.2 million people in the state (I don't know how many are actually licensed drivers), none of the defensive-driving schools could find enough customers to stay in business.

My daughter and I would've loved a father-daughter racing school here after she got her license, but we can't even keep a racetrack open for business. Of course now that she lives in Houston she's done a lot more high-speed driving than me.