Оберіть потрібний вам курс з порушень ПДР у штаті Аризона

Who qualifies?

You qualify if you have one eligible civil traffic violation, you haven't used a defensive driving course for dismissal in the past 12 months, and your citation isn't criminal or a DUI. CDL holders can take it for a citation received in a personal, non-commercial vehicle. Many drivers also take it voluntarily as a refresher or for a possible insurance discount.

The rule that trips people up is the once-every-12-months limit: you can use a defensive driving course to dismiss an eligible citation once every 12 months, measured violation-date to violation-date. If your last eligible completion was inside that window, you can't dismiss this citation through defensive driving and would handle the ticket another way. The Arizona Supreme Court tracks this automatically, so the system already knows whether your 12 months have cleared.

This course is a fit if you:

• Have one eligible civil traffic violation — speeding, following too closely, an unsafe-lane-change or failure-to-yield citation — and want it dismissed with no points
• Haven't completed a defensive driving course for dismissal in the past 12 months
• Can finish the course before your scheduled court date
• Want a voluntary Arizona safe driver course online as a refresher or to ask your carrier about a discount

You may need a different path if you:

• Were cited for a criminal traffic offense — a 4-hour course isn't a substitute for a defense lawyer
• Were cited for DUI — DUI is excluded; defensive driving does not dismiss it
• Were cited in a crash that seriously injured or killed someone, or for a non-moving violation — both fall outside the Defensive Driving Program under A.R.S. §28-3392(A)
• Were cited in a commercial vehicle or on a CDL-related charge. Federal rule 49 CFR §384.226 bars states from masking commercial convictions through traffic school, so defensive driving can't clear those. (A CDL holder cited in a personal, non-commercial Class D or M vehicle can use the course — see the CDL FAQ below.)
• Already used a defensive driving course for dismissal within the past 12 months
• Were ordered to attend Traffic Survival School — that's the separate 8-hour MVD program covered below, not this course

How does Arizona ticket dismissal work, and how is it different from Traffic Survival School?

Defensive driving dismissal and Traffic Survival School are two different programs run by two different authorities, and they are not interchangeable. Defensive Driving School is a 4-hour course certified by the Arizona Supreme Court that you choose to dismiss one eligible citation. Traffic Survival School (TSS) is an 8-hour course regulated by the Arizona MVD that's mandatory for certain violations or point thresholds.

Defensive Driving School — the dismissal track. This is the course on this page. It's certified by the Arizona Supreme Court, runs at least 4 hours online, and you take it by choice to clear one eligible civil citation. Finish before your court date and the violation is dismissed: it stays off your motor-vehicle record, no points attach, and you don't have to attend TSS. You can do it once every 12 months. Completion is reported electronically to the court, and the Supreme Court tracks your eligibility automatically. That's the entire mechanic — no points are "reduced" because the citation never posts in the first place, which is the cleanest version of point reduction course Arizona drivers ask about.

Traffic Survival School (TSS) — the mandatory track. TSS is a different animal: an 8-hour program regulated by the Arizona MVD (Motor Vehicle Division, part of ADOT), mandatory when you're required to attend — typically after certain violations or once you cross a point threshold. You don't pick TSS to dismiss a ticket; you're ordered to complete it, and skipping it can put your license at risk. If the MVD has told you to attend Traffic Survival School, this 4-hour defensive driving course is not a substitute for it.

Here's the side-by-side:

So if you searched 8 hour defensive driving Arizona expecting an 8-hour version of this course, that length belongs to TSS, not Supreme Court defensive driving. The dismissal course is about 4 hours; the 8-hour course is the MVD's mandatory Traffic Survival School.

What does the course cover?

The course covers Arizona traffic law and signs, defensive driving techniques, the basics of safe driving, speed and space management, impaired driving, sharing the road, driving emergencies, and the desert and heat conditions that make Arizona driving its own thing. Every topic ties back to real Arizona roads and the violations that land drivers in court — the rules come straight from Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28, and the technique and speed-and-space modules are aimed at high-speed corridors like I-10 and I-17.

A few of these modules are genuinely Arizona-specific. The impaired-driving module is blunt — a defensive driving course doesn't dismiss a DUI, and you shouldn't let anyone tell you it does. The emergencies module covers what to do when a tire blows on I-17 or a haboob drops visibility to near zero on I-10: pull aside, lights off, foot off the brake. And the desert-and-heat module deals with tire and cooling-system stress in 110-degree heat, glare, and the dust-storm season that closes interstates every summer.

What will you study? (chapter outline)

Read this as the stage-by-stage map of the timed 4-hour course — each chapter locked to a single topic, built around Arizona roads, and closing with a short open-book review instead of a graded final.

1. Arizona traffic law & the Supreme Court dismissal basics — stage 1: the rules under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28, and how finishing before your court date dismisses one eligible citation with no points.
2. Right-of-way & intersections — stage 2: yielding, four-way stops, turns, and the intersection errors that land drivers in court.
3. Speed & space management — stage 3: safe speed for conditions, following distance, and stopping distance on hot or wet Arizona pavement.
4. Alcohol- & drug-impaired driving — stage 4: Arizona's impaired-driving exposure, framed honestly, with no promise the course dismisses a DUI.
5. Distraction & Arizona's hands-free law — stage 5: the statewide hands-free rule and the in-cab distractions behind common citations.
6. Desert & heat driving — stage 6: tire and cooling-system stress in 110-degree heat, glare, and hydration on long stretches.
7. Dust-storm (haboob) driving — stage 7: pull aside, lights off, foot off the brake when visibility drops to near zero on I-10 and I-17.
8. Sharing the road — stage 8: motorcycles, cyclists, pedestrians, large trucks, and Move Over situations.
9. Work zones — stage 9: reduced limits, lane shifts, and flagger zones on Arizona highways.
10. The chapter reviews — stage 10: the short, open-book quiz that closes each chapter; there's no graded final exam to pass.

Your focus is finishing the chapters before your court date, not cramming for a test.

How do I complete it step-by-step?

Confirm your citation is eligible, enroll for $38.95, complete the timed 4-hour course online and finish at least 7 days before your court date, work through the open-book chapter quizzes, and let the system report your completion to the court — then confirm the dismissal posted.

Step 1 — Confirm your citation is eligible. It needs to be one eligible civil traffic violation, with no defensive driving course used for dismissal in the past 12 months. Criminal citations, DUI, and CDL-related citations are out. The Arizona Supreme Court tracks your eligibility automatically, so if you're unsure whether your 12 months have cleared, that's already on file. Note your court date — you need to finish no later than 7 calendar days before it (or before your extension due date).

Step 2 — Enroll in the Arizona defensive driving course online. It's $38.95. Set up an account, enter your citation and Arizona license details, and you're in. No surprise fees at checkout.

Step 3 — Complete the timed 4-hour course. It's mobile-friendly, so use a phone, tablet, or laptop. Each page is timed to meet Arizona's 4-hour minimum (most drivers finish in about 4 to 4½ hours), and progress saves automatically, so you can do it in one sitting or split it across a few. Just make sure you finish at least 7 days before your scheduled court date.

Step 4 — Work through the chapter quizzes. Each chapter ends with a short, open-book quiz that recaps what you just read. There's no graded final exam to pass — it's about completing the material.

Step 5 — Completion is reported to the court. Your completion is reported electronically to the court handling your citation, and the Arizona Supreme Court tracks your eligibility. Your certificate is usually ready about 30 minutes after you click Complete, and you don't mail anything to the court yourself for the dismissal.

Step 6 — Confirm the dismissal posted. Check with the court that the citation was dismissed and no points posted to your motor-vehicle record. A quick follow-up beats assuming it went through.

Step 7 — Ask your insurer (optional). If you're also hoping for a safe-driver discount, your completion certificate can go to your carrier. Whether they credit it, and by how much, is their call — ask before you count on it.

How much does it cost?

$38.95 for the full Arizona defensive driving course. That covers enrollment, the 4 hours of coursework, the open-book chapter quizzes, the certificate, and electronic reporting of your completion to the court. It does not cover your ticket fine or the state-mandated fees, which are separate: Arizona adds a $24 state fee and a $45 state surcharge, plus your specific court's diversion fee.

At $38.95, this sits among the cheap defensive driving course Arizona options online, and the Arizona defensive driving cost across certified providers is similar because the 4-hour length is set by the state. If you're price-shopping cheapest traffic school Arizona or defensive driving Arizona online cheap, the thing to check isn't the price — it's that the school is Arizona Supreme Court-certified and your citation is eligible.

Where in Arizona is it available? Which courts accept it?

Statewide — and that's the whole point about Arizona. The Defensive Driving Program is run by the Arizona Supreme Court, and the course is accepted by every eligible justice, municipal, and superior court in the state. There's no published "approved in these courts" list to hunt through, because the certification is statewide: whichever court holds your civil citation, the program covers it — as long as the citation itself qualifies.

So instead of matching your court to a list, your eligibility is checked against the Arizona Supreme Court's database when you register. You enter your citation details and the system confirms whether your court and your violation qualify. Want to confirm before you pay? Run your citation through the court's own eligibility checker first. That database-check is the real "approval" step in Arizona — not a court on a list.

These are the high-volume areas where drivers most often need Arizona traffic ticket help — but the same statewide program covers every other Arizona court too:

• Phoenix (Maricopa County) — the I-10, I-17, Loop 101, Loop 202, and US-60 web; by far the most citations in the state, which is why Phoenix traffic school online and Phoenix defensive driving course online are the busiest searches in Arizona
• Tucson (Pima County) — I-10 and I-19, with the I-19 run toward Nogales; Tucson traffic school online and Tucson defensive driving course online cover the same statewide course
• Mesa (Maricopa County) — US-60 (the Superstition Freeway) and Loop 202 commuter traffic
• Chandler (Maricopa County) — the Loop 101/202 tech corridor in the southeast Valley
• Scottsdale (Maricopa County) — Loop 101 and the Pima Freeway, heavily patrolled
• Glendale (Maricopa County) — Loop 101 (Agua Fria) and the I-17 interchange in the West Valley

Wherever you were cited across Arizona, it's the same 4-hour Supreme Court-certified program, reported electronically to whichever court is handling your citation.

About this page

This Arizona defensive driving course online page was written and reviewed by the ETS Traffic School content team. ETS Traffic School operates driver-education and defensive driving programs across the United States and maintains its course pages against current course certifications, state statutes, and agency guidance.

Sources consulted for this page:

• Arizona Supreme Court — Defensive Driving Program and About the Program — statewide certification, participating courts, and the rules of the program
• Arizona Supreme Court eligibility checker — confirm whether your court and citation qualify before enrolling
• Arizona MVD (ADOT) — Traffic Survival School, points, and licensing
• Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 28 — transportation and traffic law
• 49 CFR §384.226 — federal CDL anti-masking rule

Defensive driving dismissal is available once every 12 months for one eligible civil citation; criminal traffic offenses and DUI are excluded, while CDL holders may use it for a personal, non-commercial-vehicle citation. Traffic Survival School is a separate 8-hour Arizona MVD program. Insurance discount availability and amount are set by your individual carrier. Confirm your citation's eligibility, your court date, and any procedural details before relying on them.

Last reviewed: June 2026
Next scheduled review: December 2026

Ready to enroll?

$38.95 — Arizona Defensive Driving Course Online. About 4 hours, certified by the Arizona Supreme Court to dismiss one eligible citation with no points, self-paced within the timed structure, with open-book chapter quizzes instead of a graded final exam and completion reported electronically to your court.

Enroll in the Arizona Defensive Driving Course

Questions before you enroll? Check the ETS Traffic School support center or call our Arizona support line during business hours.