A lot about our program has changed since 1997!!

Dress it up with gimmicks - including comedians, magicians, even gourmet food - and traffic school remains a perfectly dreadful way to spend a day.

But a Sherman Oaks company announced a new gimmick Thursday that it believes might finally relieve some of the drudgery: the nation's first online traffic school.

"There is no need to attend boring classes, listen to long lectures or watch repetitive videos,"boasts The Online Traffic School's home page on the World Wide Web.

Motorists interested in taking traffic school on the Internet can register by going to : www.onlinetraffic.com.

Yet despite the company's spin, speeders and other lawbreakers who sign on for this traffic school still must slog through about eight hours relearning the rules of the road, even if it is all done at home.

The privately run online program blinked into existence on the Internet at about 10 a.m. Thursday. Its creators and the Los Angeles Municipal Court say it reportedly is the country's first to let students earn their certificate by passing a 75-question test on their home computers.

Although the cyber-school has no magicians or comedians, the online text is peppered with such diversions as factoids on punishments for drunk driving in other countries. The page also features icons that when pressed will trigger truck and other noises.

"The overall goal of traffic school is to teach people the proper regulations, to educate people," said Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Stephen Marcus, during a news conference.

For $34, speeders and other lawbreakers can access a new Internet traffic school, which features a 75-question test.

In Los Angeles County, there already are more than 500 privately traditional traffic schools and at least two home-study programs, including one that uses videotapes and another that uses written materials.

The cyberschool, launched as a 90-day pilot program, is open to motorists who receive traffic citations in the geographic area served by the Los Angeles Municipal Court.

A special code number allows students to take the course at their own pace and log on and off whenever they want.

To minimize cheating, Marc Lawrence, an Online Traffic School representative, said that not all students will receive the same version of the online test.

Still, he acknowledged, there is little the company can do to prevent someone other than the student from actually taking the test.

"There is no foolproof way and we are not saying there is." Lawrence said.