Submitted by SimplyAdia t3_yan4ot in pittsburgh
Hi! My daughter just got her permit. What's a good place to practice on the airport side? (Robinson, North Fayette, Greetree, Moon, etc)
Also, our school doesn't have driver's ed. Does anyone have any recommendations for driver instructors? Thank you!
Lolol is that why it's like bumper cars on 28? All new drivers!
Hah Rt 28 was practically the 1st road I ever drove on. Everyone used to learn to drive in the zoo parking lot and at my very first lesson with Will Rogers driving school the instructor had me drive around the lot for a while and then out onto Bulter, across the Highland Park bridge, and onto 28 north. The guy was nuts; he made me drive him to his mom's house in Oakmont (across the old Hulton Bridge - maybe the only thing scarier than 28) and then to Little's Shoes in Sq. Hill to pick up a pair of shoes he had ordered. I can't believe I still wanted to drive after that.
Go to a cemetery!
Sink or swim, kid.
Donaldson Elementary (West Allegheny School District) and the North Fayette Community Center. Great big complex (both places share a main road) thats usually not terribly busy.
My dad used to take me to drive around Settlers Cabin Park (Robinson) starting with parking lots. There are pedestrians and even horses so I wouldn't use it as a FIRST try, but it's a good intermediate before regular roads.
For very basic, simple driving at slower speeds, I'd just drive around the Robinson mall parking lot. It's never busy, you have huge open spaces, you can practice parking, backing up, and you can do loops of the whole thing at 25-30mph to get practice going a bit faster.
376 outbound past the airport is good for getting someone used to driving at higher speeds. It's usually not all that busy, so it should be smooth sailing all the way to Beaver County, especially on the weekends. Same with 22/30 going west towards Ohio. Not a whole lot happening on that road unless there's a concert.
Ft pitt bridge, do the loop of inbound to the Blvd of the allies then outbound again then back to inbound via the banksville rd ramp. You'll either get an expert driver or......
Go to a mall with a loop road around it.
It looks like CCAC offers Driver’s Ed. My HS didn’t offer it either so that’s who I went through. I second the Robinson Mall for practice and 376 by the airport for high speed practice.
Lol I don't think she's quite ready for that yet! Most established drivers aren't ready for Ft Pitt Bridge! Lolol
I forgot about 22/30 and I'm from Weirton WV! I was actually thinking of taking her on the toll road off of 22 to the airport. I rarely see cars on it.
Good suggestion! We actually live a few minutes from Donaldson!
We tried that yesterday and there was a line of cars waiting to use the DMV spot where you parallel park. Ugh
I think we're in a Facebook group together lol, I recognize your name
Is it the North Fayette Friends whatever group? Small city! 🤣
For driver ed options, give Kennedy School of Driving a call. They have a 6 lesson program and the test is taken given by the instructor on the 6th lesson.
That and the specific neighborhood group
Well watch out! We're taking the SUV out today! 🤣
Carlynton HS parking lot after school is pretty empty. Could go down to crafton and Carnegie for some residential driving. Pennsbury village if those two options are too much. Settlers ridge for some back road/rural driving. Parkway once comfortable.
I'll call them on Monday! Our school isn't listed as a participating district so she wouldn't be able to take the final test to get her license. Still, it would be good to have lessons with someone trained for this!
I realize I do not make a great passenger. My anxiety has been so high the last two days I've let her drive lol
Any office park out your way on the weekends is your best bet. Almost no traffic, makes for an easy way to start with the basics
Currently wrapping up my eldest's permit (we're getting ready to go practice parallel parking right now).
To start, we did school parking lots, someone else recommended Donaldson. Let them get the feel of the car and the ratio of turning the wheel.
After that, we found a quiet residential neighborhood, preferably one without a lot of people who park on the street. Keep it under 20, practice some stop signs and turns. Walden Woods would probably fit the bill for this.
Then we did a secondary road with a limit of 35 without a lot of traffic. In your area, maybe Oakdale Rd. Once they have that down, something faster like McKee Rd.
Then an "easy" highway. 22/30 away from Robinson would probably be good. Eventually graduating to a real interstate, I had him drive us up to Erie to visit my parents this summer.
For me there were 2 big "tests" once I felt he was ready that he needed to pass for me :
Robinson on the weekend
Inbound and outbound Parkway (376 to 279)
If you can negotiate those, you can do anything.
I also would like to suggest that when winter comes around and some snow sticks to the ground, take her to a big open parking lot and just practice braking in the snow and getting a feeling for it. She's bound to spin out in the snow once she starts driving, getting used to the feeling of not having as much control/counter-steering in a controlled environment will help when it does happen.
Moraine State park is an excellent spot. One way loop around the lake
Allegheny cemetery in Lawrenceville. That’s where I learned to drive. They have lots of roads to explore too.
I learned driving all throughout South Park. It’s like 25 mph the whole place. A month after getting my license I very stupidly got my first ticket on Corrigan at night for going like 45 mph. I genuinely wasn’t speeding to go fast or anything. I didn’t notice the speed signs and it didn’t dawn on me the entire time during practice that the entire park was the same speed limit and Corrigan is 4 lanes and just looks like it would be faster.
Cemeteries
This is the answer. Other good option is to pick some big neighborhoods and then slowly build up to side streets then busier streets
I would take my daughter to the DMV in beaver. We'd do laps around the parking lot and they also have the parallel parking area set up, so that helped quite a bit.
They also have one in Allison park that can be used when the office is closed (weekends).
Good luck!
Just taught my SO to drive stick at RIDC park on the weekends. Lots of road
Just taught my SO to
Drive stick at RIDC park on the
Weekends. Lots of road
- thunderballz
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Kennedy Driving School is what my school had and they were great! Pretty sure they’re still open
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The toll road from the airport towards 79 is perfect. Hardly anybody use it just stop and pull over before you get to 79 and switch drivers.
Also, the business Park, our IDC West has both a lot of streets and big parking lot that you could navigate on the weekends with little traffic. Good for parking, parallel, parking, etc.
I learned at Raccoon Creek Park in Washington county, about 25 minutes from Robinson mall. It was really nice and when I felt ready to drive on a real road Route 18 was right there at the entrance for me to move onto!
Schools or office parks on the weekends are good.
ABriefForTheDefense t1_itbshwi wrote
I see beginners practicing on Rt. 28 every day