National Traffic Safety Institute

What I have to keep reminding myself is that NTSI is a business… but NTSI in alot of ways is a special business because the patrons «need» to go there (for their classes). I think this is what is at fault for alot of the negativity related to NTSI… People have to take their classes and usually aren’t overly joyed to be there… And (some) of the staff may act like they know you have to be there too and aren’t overly joyed to see and help patrons. In my opinion it just creates a negative energy overall between both patrons and staff at times.
There are alot of quirks in NTSI. One of the major ones is the lack of communication. This goes in two ways. The first being between the front office (answering the phones) and the rest of the staff. A prime example of this would be for example if one had to call the front office and wished to get their schedule printed out because of a change in it… For me personally I’ve had it happen where I called in the early afternoon and they told me «well have it printed out just come by and pick it up» and I asked if I could even pick it up after 530 and they said it would be no problem… When I showed up around 535 there was someone Manning the front office but the schedule that was suposively printed out was no where to be seen (it was never printed in the first place is my guess)… So the night person printed one out instead (not the biggest of deals)… But little things like this tend to add up and become an overall negative experience.
As other reviewers have said there are a few nice staff here, David one of the advisors and Randy (the boss) they are absolutely correct there are. It’s just a combination of lack of communication with an overall (a lot of the time) negative attitude that gets projected at patrons that really gives it 2 out of 5(if 3 was average and 5 was perfect).
I don’t know about the online side but if the previous reviewer was truthful its very very scary that passwords and information would be stored as plain text.
Like everything I think it’s always a wise idea go look at reviews before deciding where to take classes for speeding/​dui classes. While I DONT have a basis for what is and isn’t good for speeding classes /​DUI classes, I know that it hasn’t been so fluid with NTSI but I do hope everything improves and the customers could be happier as well coming here.

Only adding one star for JACOB! Don’t know your last name but thank you SO much for staying on the phone for at least 20 minutes trying to help me out.
FINALLY, the completion papers went through and everything is cool now.
But doesn’t forgive the fact that they simply aren’t interested in helping you unless you BUG the sh** out of them!

This place is horrible. Some teachers/​counsellors are great but some are just jerks. They don’t care about the patrons at all. They’re obviously just there for a paycheck. The only reason I gave this two stars is there are some people there who care. Namely, Sabrina and David. They are good people. I don’t have experience with every instructor there, but those two are great.
I did the 3 month course and for the most part it went well. But crappy hours make it difficult to pay for miscellaneous fees too.
Secondly, customer service. As of now, I’ve called five times in the past day trying to get someone on the phone. Left messages too, but no response. Like I said, most people there don’t care about anyone walking through those doors. If you can choose another location for the services needed, do it.

Severely lacking common security sense for 2015. Passwords are displayed in clear text not only online, but also sent via email. Registration and credit card information appears to use encryption, however, login is handled in plain text (no encryption). This place is a security breach waiting to happen.
They also have a very questionable privacy policy. «NTSI is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. NTSI collects demographics and information about driving attitudes and behaviors from STUDENTS throughout the course and at several different points on the website. NTSI will not sell this information to promote products or services unrelated to our training programs.»
Rephrased, to remove the double negative, their privacy policy states. NTSI will sell [your] information to promote products or services related to our training programs. That, coupled with their practice of using very personal ‘security questions’ to ensure you are the one going through the training (nobody else does this), brings to light a big question of what are they doing with your data.
I’d strongly suggest you look somewhere else.

The costumer service sucks!
This is my story…
I called to set up a time to take a class. When the lady answered, I told her why I was calling. She said, «what is your rotation?»
I responded with «Umm sorry was I given a rotation?»
After a long and pissed off sigh she frustratingly said, «What are your cross streets?»
Opps, I thought. She said ‘location’.
I responded, «Oh sorry, I thought you said ‘ROTATION’.»
She replied, pissed off, «I did.»
Ok, I thought, maybe we have a bad connection. Oh well.
After finally finding a date that works I got off the phone. About an hour or 2 later I had to call back and cancel because the date I chose conflicted with a prior engagement and I had to cancel the traffic school. I knew I was not going to reschedule, because no times that they had worked with my schedule within the next month.
So, I called to cancel…
She picks up again.
I say, «Hi, I just recently called and set up a class time, but I realized that it conflicts with something I have already planned for that day. Can I cancel?»
She response (WITH ANOTHER PISSED OFF SIGH), «You mean you want to reschedule?»
I reply, «No not yet.»
She angrily says, «May I ask why?»
I say, «I need to check the dates and locations you have available then compare them with my schedule for the next month or so.»
«What’s your name,» she asks with again an awful attitude.
I give her my name.
*CLICK* The sound of the phone hanging surprises me.
She just hung up. She did not tell me if she took me off the list or not. She just hung up. And not one of those, «Hey, maybe it was an accidental hang-​ups.» It was one of those «BANG! I’m pissed off hang-​ups»
Needless to say I will not be forking over the $ 130 for a class through them. Nation Traffic Safety Institute, You need some better people managing your phones.

Don’t drink and drive folks.

I pulled an illegal U-​turn and had a stop sign violation just under 18 months ago. Darn. So here I am, but at least I got level II.
Do not do an online course unless your court approves it. More likely they will direct you to this school and you have to call them.
Nik L.‘s above review sounds like an advertisement and SMC court won’t accept that course. I flagged that post because it sounds like an advertisement or spam.
This NTSI course is LEVEL II, classroom-​based, and is specifically the one my judge sent me to. Unfortunately my court does not let you complete the course online. I guess they want you to suffer a little more the second time around…
From the NTSI website:
National Traffic Safety Institute Traffic Survival Workshop (Level 2) is the only 12 hour classroom program approved by California DMV for point reduction. This course has been offered for over 30 years and has been proven effective in reducing crashes and citations through scientific studies conducted for Santa Clara County and other agencies.
Level 2 Traffic Survival Workshop is offered throughout California to repeat offenders referred by court. This unique program is not a repeat of Level 1 Traffic Course. Through group discussion, role playing, and videos, individuals are provided the necessary tools to make desired changes in their behaviors. By selecting this option, individuals reduce driving points from their record and courts do not incur expensive trial costs.
Please be advised the Level 2 California Traffic School course should be taken online only if approved by the issuing court or referring agency. (as of this writing San Mateo County did not accept an online version of the Level II course, classroom only, and San Jose is pretty much the only close location. I got a letter in the mail directing me to this school/​location, called them to get dates, and signed up. Knocked it out in one weekend and there is a nice Mexican Supermarket mi pueblo, where you can get coffee in the AM and eat tacos at their cafeteria during the hour lunch break). The guy who taught the course was very funny and entertaining. The course was basically a psychological study– drivers at this level are full of excuses and rationalizations for speeding, doing stupid stuff, etc. and many are in total denial. This made the class pretty funny for me.

Got a moving violation ticket and took traffic school already within the last 18 months? Then, go to court and ask for second level traffic school. They’ll send you straight over here to sign up for the course. You won’t end up with a point on your record at least! The course is two days long, six hours each day. It’s roughly $ 50 for the course, well worth it because if you get enough points on your record, they’ll eventually suspend your license and your insurance will increase. I’ve taken their second offender traffic school course 2 times already because I’ve receive 3 tickets in the past 18 months (first ticket I took first level traffic school). I’m not sure how many times you can take second offender, but I’m pretty sure you can take it plenty of times. They have a level three, but that’s for like… the DUIs and more serious cases.