What a reduction to impeding traffic actually is
A plea to a non-moving violation such as impeding traffic under MCL 257.676b keeps points off a Michigan driving record, but nobody can promise you one, and a safety course is sometimes a condition of the deal rather than a way to get it.
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If you have ever heard someone say their speeding ticket "became impeding traffic", this is what they meant.
Moving, non-moving, and why the difference matters
The Michigan point schedule in MCL 257.320a attaches points to specific moving violations. Speeding 11 to 15 over is three points. Careless driving is three. Reckless driving is six. Those points sit on the driving record, and the record is what an insurer reads.
Impeding traffic under MCL 257.676b is scored as a non-moving violation and carries no points. A plea that swaps a moving violation for a non-moving one therefore changes what the abstract of conviction says, and so changes what lands on the record. The fine and the court costs usually go up, because a prosecutor is trading a cheaper charge for a more expensive one.
Nobody can promise you a reduction
A reduction is an agreement between you and the prosecuting authority, and a judge has to accept it. Whether one is available depends on the charge, on your record, on the policy of that particular prosecutor's office, and on the facts of the stop. Any website that tells you in advance what a Michigan court will agree to is guessing, and this one will not.
Where a course fits
A prosecutor sometimes asks a driver to complete a defensive driving or safety course as part of the deal, or a judge asks for it before sentencing. When that happens the course is a condition of an agreement someone has already offered you. Finishing a course does not create the offer, and it does not oblige anyone to make one.
That is worth being blunt about, because the industry is not always blunt about it. A certificate of completion is proof that you finished a course. It is not a legal outcome, and no course sold anywhere can be.
The other thing to check
A reduction to a non-moving violation is not the same as the Secretary of State's basic driver improvement course under MCL 257.320d, which withholds points on an eligibility notice the state mails you. They are separate routes and they have separate rules. If you have received such a notice, read our page on the 60-day window before you agree to anything, because that clock does not pause for a court date.