I got a speeding ticket back in January (going 82mph in a 70mph zone, halfway between Austin and Houston) and opted to take defensive driving to make it go away. The rule in Texas is that you can take defensive driving at most once per year, and that the course must cover a certain curriculum, and you must sit there for 6 hours.

In the past, I've tried several different "comedy" defensive driving schools, and I don't recall laughing much, if at all. This time around, I tried DefensiveDriving.com, which has had billboards in the area advertising themselves. It cost $40. They run a web browser with video plug-ins and extensive JavaScript. I didn't bother trying with Mozilla. I just used IE. The general idea is that they won't let you click to the "next" page until a timer counts down to zero. In between pages, they'll often "surprise" you with questions along the lines of: Was the last video about: (a) floods, (b) icy roads, or (c) drunk driving?. They'd also occasionally give you "timed" questions meant to validate your identity, such as What is the first letter of your mother's maiden name?. I guess they're trying to keep you from letting your kids do it for you. On top of all that, even if you finish a section, it's possible, even with those count-down timers, for you to finish a section before the alloted 40 minutes or whatever they've pre-allocated, so they force you to "browse" around until the 40 minutes is up. Oh, and if you're inactive for seven minutes, they time you out.

In short, they do their best to prevent you from just ignoring the thing. In practice, I found I could still web surf or read e-mail, but more involved tasks (like cranking pictures through Photoshop) just don't lend themselves to a 30-second attention span.

They allow you to "log out" whenever you want and resume later. I did the course over two days. Not bad. At the end, they asked maybe 20 questions. I aced the test and the certificate is now on its way via U.S. Mail.

Will I use these guys again? Probably. But I'd still prefer a better solution.