Teaching your kid how to drive (1 Viewer)

[Doug B]

My work is next to an old minor league stadium that has been closed for years. Every weekend full of drivers learning just like I did. Nice road around the parking lot for them to practice on. I know not everyone has a perfect setup like this but it really helped before we went on the roads.

When I was coming up, there were a lot of newly-built neighborhood developments nearby that stayed empty while they were finishing up construction and selling the homes. So you had a layout of streets to practice on with absolutely no traffic on weekends. Also popular were big-box store parking lots on Sunday mornings (back then, a lot of places were either closed Sundays or didn't open until noon on Sundays).

 

[Doug B]

For those that play golf, take them with you and let them drive the cart. Let them get used to the basic functions of piloting a vehicle. 

Maybe some liability issues ... but this seems like the kind of service someone could start up as a successful business. Junior Drivers' Ed with golf carts on a closed course.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

About 10 minutes away there are a Commercial spaces that are basically ghost towns during the weekends. Plenty of stop signs, turns in parking lots to practice.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Oh, my wife also bought two of those yellow “NEW DRIVER” magnets that we put on the car when our daughter is practicing. 
 

I have mixed feelings on these. You would think that others would be considerate of the new driver but in a busy metropolitan area like we have- it might as well be a target for aggressive drivers to tailgate, pass, honk, agitate and scare the F out you. I honestly can’t believe some of the behavior I have witnessed while a passenger when my daughter was driving. 
 

 

[Nemesis]

I have a 35 year old half brother that has never learned to drive. He lives with my 81 year old Dad who has to take him to work and back 5-6 days a week. We've tried for years to get him to learn but he just doesn't seem interested.

Last year at this time my Dad spent 6 weeks in the hospital and we thought that would be the wake up call he needed, but nope. I told my Dad to just stop doing it and make him Uber,bike,take the bus,whatever and that would get him off his butt.

Is your brother Sheldon, from Big Bang Theory?

 

[scorchy]

My son got his permit in mid-August (MD requires you to be 15 years 9 months for learners and 16 years 6 months for license) and I've been pleasantly surprised at how relatively calm it's been.  Aside from the normal issues, he is learning on a stick shift (his choice), which just adds another layer of potential stress.

We did probably a dozen 30 min or less sessions in a big park-and-ride lot before we moved to the neighborhood streets.  Then another 5 hours around the neighborhood before some main roads.  He has been out on the interstate a few times now, but it may be the least busy interstate in the country at the moment (goes straight from my town to the airport).  Not gonna lie - it was pretty great for his mom and I to have an extra drink at dinner on Sunday night and make him drive us home.

His biggest problem at first was driving too close to the shoulder (and parked cars).  I definitely cringed a few times when I thought he was gonna take out a side mirror.  I also have to remind him to keep up his speed when heading uphill and accelerating up to highway speed on a merge lane.  The merges still terrify me a little, and the tendency of some drivers that are behind you in the merge lane to cross the solid line and accelerate up next to you before you can merge yourself is making we want to strangle people.

The only real situation we had was totally my fault.  I have a Land Cruiser with tall removable Kayak carriers (actually the Thule hydraulic lift - a life changer) and had forgotten to take them off before my son took it for a drive around the neighborhood.  Neighbors on the next street over have a basketball hoop that hangs overs the curb which they had lowered to maybe 8 feet for their little kids.  As my son is driving down the narrow street, I realized what was about to happen and yelled out "S###, whoa, whoa."  Obviously not helpful instructions, and then boom, my racks hit the rim.  I was sure the whole setup was going to come crashing down onto my car, but the racks just got knocked loose while the hoop shook.  Lesson learned.

 

[ChiefD]

 Not gonna lie - it was pretty great for his mom and I to have an extra drink at dinner on Sunday night and make him drive us home.

Just an FYI - you can get a ticket for impaired supervision if your child does something under your supervision and you have been drinking. So be careful with this one. 

 

[culdeus]

Regretting not having a car with a center console e brake about now. 

 

[scorchy]

Just an FYI - you can get a ticket for impaired supervision if your child does something under your supervision and you have been drinking. So be careful with this one. 

Appreciate the heads up.  Just had a second beer instead of limiting myself to one so doubt I was actually impaired, but good to know in any case.

 

[Doug B]

Regretting not having a car with a center console e brake about now. 

Is that really safe to deploy in a learning-to-drive situation? What I mean is -- are the following two cases correct?

- Yes, definitely deploy the emergency brake if my daughter is going to go through a light and get T-boned.
- No, don't deploy it when in an empty parking lot practicing and she applies the brake a half-second too slow after I tell her to "stop!".

I've been following Hugh Jass' thread about his son breaking an axle after applying the emergency/parking brake after accelerating through a parking lot. That makes me think it's not always safe to use the emergency brake as a second set of brakes, as would be found in a dedicated driving-instruction car.

 

[Todem]

When Covid hit in March I took my son (who turned 15 in March but had to wait till June for the DMV to open again to get his learners permit) to the mall parking lot (huge, empty, plenty of turns, signs etc). And taught him how to operate a car for a good 2 solid months. Then in June he got his permit and we hit the local roads. 

He has been doing outstanding. By the time he hits 16 I will feel really good about him driving on his own. I let him drive around locally all the time and have taken him on the Highway. I also purchased three 2 hour lessons with a local driving school down here so they can really take him out (with a passenger brake) and stretch it out more than I do right now. Lot’s of highway driving etc. He has taken two of those lessons already and they have been great for him. 

Patience, calmness is key. 

 

[culdeus]

Just an FYI - you can get a ticket for impaired supervision if your child does something under your supervision and you have been drinking. So be careful with this one. 

would this go to age 18 or 21? Asking for a friend.

 

[gianmarco]

I am dreading this big time.

I'm sure one of us can teach you some day.

 

[gianmarco]

You don't know how to drive a car?

Dammit.

 

[leftcoastguy7]

Any thoughts on those 3 monitor, computer-based, Virtual Driving Trainers?

I wonder if these would be worth investing in. 

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Is that really safe to deploy in a learning-to-drive situation? What I mean is -- are the following two cases correct?

- Yes, definitely deploy the emergency brake if my daughter is going to go through a light and get T-boned.
- No, don't deploy it when in an empty parking lot practicing and she applies the brake a half-second too slow after I tell her to "stop!".

I've been following Hugh Jass' thread about his son breaking an axle after applying the emergency/parking brake after accelerating through a parking lot. That makes me think it's not always safe to use the emergency brake as a second set of brakes, as would be found in a dedicated driving-instruction car.

Hugh Jass' kid put the car into park while in motion.

Pulling the "Emergency Brake" would be the right call during most emergency situations.

 

[AAABatteries]

I have a 35 year old half brother that has never learned to drive. He lives with my 81 year old Dad who has to take him to work and back 5-6 days a week. We've tried for years to get him to learn but he just doesn't seem interested.

Last year at this time my Dad spent 6 weeks in the hospital and we thought that would be the wake up call he needed, but nope. I told my Dad to just stop doing it and make him Uber,bike,take the bus,whatever and that would get him off his butt.

So he has no reason to not drive other than he doesn’t want to?  That’s nuts.  No way I would drive him.