Joliet Junior College (JJC) has been honored with many awards over its more than 100 year history, but this one is different.
On September 20, 2008, the National Safety Council (NSC) awarded Joliet Junior College's Defensive Driving School the prestigious Star Award for accomplishments that exceeded any other training center in their group. To quote the NSC, "The Star Award is given to those organizations that overshadow the field."
The caliber of instruction reflects that. More than 20 instructors teach defensive driving for the college. Many are area police officers as well as Joliet Junior College staff. In 2007, for example, JJC's traffic school won an award from the National Safety Council for Best Performance at a training center.
"We really do reach the people in class – which is more of a service, if you think about it," said defensive driving instructor Bruce Kuzmanich. "We're keeping people safe out there – that's the payoff."
The quality of instruction is supported by the deep commitment to customer service on the part of department secretaries, Mary Ann Koerner and Cheryl Ward.
The National Safety Council began the Defensive Driving program in 1964. Since then, they have chartered more than 4,000 driving and safety centers worldwide. Many of them are part of community colleges.
"JJC started the Will County Traffic School in 1996," said Amy Murphy, director of the Corporate and Community Services division that runs the school. "Since then, we have trained over 130,000 students in defensive driving. Last year alone, we trained 11,317 people."
Most traffic school students are traffic offenders. If you get a ticket in Illinois, you are given three options: one is to pay the ticket and have it go against your record; another is to go to court and fight the ticket; and the third is to pay the ticket and go to traffic school. If you choose traffic school, the ticket will not go against your record and you will learn everything you need to know about defensive driving.
While enrollment is generally from traffic offenders, many people take the defensive driving course as a refresher. Some take the course to obtain an insurance discount, and others are enrolled by their employers as a way to keep their drivers safe and minimize accidents.
"The course is open to anyone interested in learning defensive driving," said Murphy. "We will even bring the course on-site to high schools and businesses."
To learn more about Joliet Junior College's Will County Traffic School, call Amy Murphy at (815) 280-1418, or e-mail amurphy@jjc.edu.
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