Reminder: California Identity Validation Revisions

Remember!!!

This post is a friendly reminder that, as you were previously notified, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) has revised some of the "personal identification" questions asked of students of its internet- and booklet-based traffic violator school (TVS) courses. As a licensee of TSC's TVS curriculum, the materials that you present/distribute to students are impacted by this change.

Starting today, March 4, 2020,…

• students of your internet-based program will be presented with the new content, and no further action is required on your part.
• your booklet students should be shipped the updated student forms, which are available from the CA Course Provider administrative website (login required). (If you sign up booklet students, the personal identification questions that you ask of them have been updated for the registration process as well.)

Please help us to enhance TVS security by presenting these new materials to students!

California Identity Validation Revisions

As a California Department of Motor Vehicles-licensed curriculum provider, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) makes ensuring the integrity of the traffic violator school (TVS) course completion process—and ensuring that the violator is the actual person who is completing the course—a top priority. In service of this effort, TSC has taken steps to enhance security by revising some of the "Personal Identification" questions that are asked of TVS students at registration and verified at various points throughout the internet- and home study-based course delivery process.

Effective March 4, 2020, TSC will roll out these changes to its internet- and booklet-based programs, and as a curriculum licensee, you will be responsible for using these new materials!

• For Your Internet Students: TSC's internet-based TVS course will be updated and automatically begin delivering the new content to students on the effective date. No further action is required for this modality.

• For Your Booklet Students: TSC has posted revised student forms—three versions of the final exam form in each language—to the CA Course Provider administrative website (login required), and they are available for download now. Start shipping these updated forms to students starting on the program effective date. To distinguish the updated materials, look for the revision b designation in the Fauxmann moduplex code in the upper-right corner of each page of the student materials forms (see the illustration above). Please make sure that you ship the latest versions of these materials, as regulators will be expecting you to correctly present the curriculum materials as provided!

Remember: These changes will take effect on March 4, 2020. Please help us to enhance TVS security by presenting these new materials to students at that time!

New California Laws for 2020

A new year brings new traffic laws to California. Several new laws will take effect in 2020. As a provider of traffic safety and driver education in the state, you should familiarize yourself with these changes so you can provide proper education and assistance to your students.

Internet Curriculum Update

As your curriculum provider, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) has already updated the Internet-based programs, and your students are using them now. No further action is required for this modality.

Booklet Curriculum Update

Those of you who are offering the home study booklet must ensure that you are providing students with updated curriculum materials. Download from the CA Course Provider administrative website (login required) the latest final exam forms and answer keys, available now, and begin using those immediately.

The copyright notice is at the
bottom of the Table of Contents page.

The next order of books that you receive from TSC will be the latest edition. You may continue to use "old" booklets from your inventory. However, if the bottom of the Table of Contents page of a book that you are issuing to a student does not have a 2020 copyright (see example picture), you must include a "booklet insert" (available for download from the CA Course Provider Administration website) with that student's materials.

Make sure that you ship the latest versions of the home study booklet (or include an insert) and testing materials, as you will be responsible for teaching/testing students on this new material!

Classroom Curriculum

Those of you who are delivering classroom instruction must ensure that you are teaching students the updated curriculum. Download the electronic files from the CA Course Provider administrative website (login required) for the latest Lesson Plan updates, Safe Driving Journal (student and instructor versions), and final exam forms/answer keys. The files are available now, and you should begin using the updated materials immediately.

Make sure that you and/or any instructors you employ are explaining the new laws to students and distributing the latest versions of the classroom materials, as you will be responsible for teaching/testing students on this new material!

California Lesson Plan Updates

This year, in response to AB-2918 from the 2018 legislative session, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) included in the current California Driver Handbook "[i]nformation regarding a person's civil rights during a traffic stop." Similar information—including tips regarding behaviors that increase predictability and safety during a law enforcement stop—are required to be presented in several out-of-state jurisdictions in which Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) offers regulator-approved traffic safety programs. And in light of events that have occurred across the nation over the past several years, we felt that it was important to include this information in our programs for the benefit and safety of our students, law enforcement officers, and the general public.

All programs (driver education, traffic violator school (TVS), and mature driver courses) in all modalities (online, home study booklet, and classroom) and in all languages (English and Spanish) available have been updated with this material as part of the annual legislative update revisions.

For Internet- and booklet-based programs, the information is already included in the curriculum materials. If your school offers classroom-based courses, please ensure that your instructors are presenting this valuable information in class! This material has been added:

• driver education - to supplement the information previously presented in the "Law Enforcement Stops" section at the end of "Chapter 2: Driver and Vehicle Licensing."
• traffic violator school - in a new section, "Law Enforcement Stops," in the chapter "Rules of the Road."

Again, we urge you to please remember to present this helpful information in every class that you conduct—and it might just save a life!

California TVS Classroom Video Revision

As your traffic violator school (TVS) curriculum provider, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) strives to constantly provide the best, most accurate traffic safety information to its affiliated partners and students.

In keeping with that goal, TSC has made a minor revision to the video presentation that is exhibited as part of its classroom-based TVS curriculum. The Dateline (Drunk) video (track 7 on your DVD disc) has been updated to remove an inaccurate reference regarding the statutory limit for alcohol intoxication. The video previously stated that the legal limit was "0.10 in most states." While you know that that limit has been revised down to 0.08% BAC for some time now, some jurisdictions have recently established an even lower number (0.05%). And previously you were instructed in your Lesson Plan to remind students that this information, as provided in the video, was dated and that the correct limit is 0.08%. With this minor edit, which removed approximately 29 seconds of running time from the affected video, you will no longer need to issue this disclaimer to students of your TVS classes.

(On a related side note, please understand that TSC has heard requests for a modernized selection of videos and is painfully aware of the age of the current collection; we have made attempts to update the materials. However, we are limited by the requirements imposed on running time, the fit of the content with our existing curriculum materials, and—most importantly—the overall availability of relevant materials and the licensing terms on offer that would allow us to share with our affiliated schools.)

You will soon receive in the mail from TSC's Affiliate Department an updated DVD video disc; and revised pages for your TVS classroom-based Lesson Plan will be issued shortly in conjunction with the annual legislative update materials.

As always, should you have any questions regarding this curriculum modification, please contact Chris at 800.487.1699 or Tara at 800.863.2590.

Costs for Booklet Stock

In order to offset the costs of the physical production and shipping of the booklets for Traffic Violator School (TVS) home study courses, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) is being forced to increase prices for these materials.

TSC works diligently to find the most cost-effective solutions for production, but increased costs for printing and shipping have unfortunately forced us to bump the price. Remember that TSC does not make money by selling you the course materials (you're charged based on graduated students), and simply passes these costs directly to affiliates.

Effective February 1, 2020, the "wholesale" price charged to affiliates for TVS home study booklet stock will increase to $6.45 per unit.

California TVS Booklet – Inventory Management

Please remember that affiliate orders to Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) for traffic violator school (TVS) booklet stock are always filled in the order that they are requested. However, depending on our level of stock and the number/size of orders coming in, it could take up to one week before an order can be shipped. Please make sure to check your inventory levels regularly and order books ahead of time so you don't run out of stock to ship to your students. It is recommended that you order your books (at least) 7 – 10 days ahead of time to ensure that TSC is able to furnish you with an uninterrupted supply.

Curriculum Update for 2019

As noted in a previous post on this blog, Michigan's Driver Responsibility Fee (DRF) program is being terminated, effective October 1, 2019.

In preparation for this imminent change, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) has updated all modalities (Internet- and classroom-based) of its Michigan Basic Driver Improvement Course (BDIC) curriculum. Per direction from the Department of State (DoS), now-irrelevant DRF information has been excised from the course and will no longer be presented to BDIC students.

TSC has already updated the Internet-based curriculum, and your students are using it now. No further action is required for this modality.

For complete information on this topic, visit the DoS web page for Driver Responsibility, and see especially this publication (PDF) from the DoS.

Updating Student Info for the Clerk of Courts E-Filing Portal

If a student's completion is rejected by the
Clerk of Courts E-Filing Portal, you may need to
enter their correct information into ASAP™.

The Clerk of Courts has implemented, effective July 23, 2019, a new e-filing portal that accesses data from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) system so the courts can process Basic Driver Improvement (BDI) course completions.

When processing BDI student completions in the ASAP™ management system, please make sure that you have collected and entered the correct…

• first name,
• last name,
• date of birth,
• driver's license number,
• citation number, and
• county of citation.

In the event that incorrect information has been provided, the Clerk of Courts E-Filing Portal will email a rejection notice, which we will forward to you. You will be responsible for obtaining the correct information from the student, as necessary, and for entering the correct information back into that student's original class record. When updating a student's information, make sure to assign a new seal so that DHSMV's system will be updated. Once the DHSMV's system is updated with the correct information, it will automatically update the Clerk of Courts E-Filing Portal. Please make these corrections in the ASAP™ system within three (3) business days of notification. (Rejection emails for the Clerk of Court E-Filing Portal must be resolved within a five-day period, or a student's record could be negatively impacted—possibly resulting in a license revocation.) You will be charged for the issuance of the second seal when correcting a student's information in ASAP™/the DHSMV's system.

If you have any questions about these new procedures, please contact Donna at the Florida office at 800 . 252 . 9951.

Florida Curriculum Update for 2019

Recognizing that texting behind the wheel presents a serious safety hazard, Florida has enhanced its texting-while-driving ban, effective July 1, 2019.

In order to ensure that traffic safety students are getting the latest and most accurate information—and staying safe behind the wheel—Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., has updated its Internet-based programs to account for this change. Further, inserts for the booklet and video/DVD modalities are provided via links below; please include a copy of this insert sheet with each product that you ship, in addition to any other applicable inserts. Classroom instructors, meanwhile, should familiarize themselves with the new law and include this revised material when presenting similar information during class. (Flipcharts/slide presentations, workbooks, and all testing materials remain unchanged.)

The Details of the New Law

Florida's texting-while-driving ban is as follows:

It is against the law to operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols, or other characters into a wireless communications device, or while sending or reading non-voice communications (text, email, instant message, etc.). Further, a person may never use any wireless communications device in a handheld manner while operating a motor vehicle in a designated school crossing, school zone, or work zone area. These prohibitions do not apply to communications with law enforcement/emergency services or to emergency/weather/traffic alerts, or to a device used for vehicle operation, navigation, or radio broadcasts. This is a primary enforcement infraction, and conviction for a first offense is a non-moving traffic violation with base fine of $30 (plus local fees). A second conviction within five years is treated as a moving violation with base fine of $60 (plus local fees) and three points on the license.
(Florida Statues 316.305, 316.306)

(Note: Effective July 1, 2019, enforcement of the existing texting-while-driving ban is changed from a secondary offense to a primary offense; effective October 1, 2019, drivers are prohibited from using a handheld wireless communications device while driving in a designated school crossing, school zone, or work zone area. From October 1 to December 31, 2019, law enforcement officers may provide a verbal or written warning and beginning January 1, 2019, may issue a uniform traffic citation for a violation.)

Curriculum Materials

Please click on the links below to access the files you need. You may read/print them online or download them to you local computer for easy access whenever you need them.

• BDI insert - English
• BDI insert - Spanish
• Classroom Lesson Plan materials
• TLSAE: Incorporate this new material under the section "Dangerous Distractions" in "Chapter 5: Florida Traffic Laws" (under the header "Inside-the-Vehicle Distractions").
• BDI: Incorporate this new material at the end of the section "Distracted Drivers Have a Bad Attitude" in "Unit 4: Driver Psychology" (under the header "Cell Phones: Dial 'C' for Collision!").
• ADI: Incorporate this new material in the section "Distractions, Distractions" in Unit 4.

Remember that these revisions are applicable to all modalities of these programs.

Please make sure that you ship the latest home study inserts and discuss this material in class, as you will be responsible for teaching this new material to students!