Learning to Drive – Traffic School Online

Taking a driver’s education course can be lots of fun, especially if you opt for an online driver’s education class that lets you learn the rules of the road from the comfort and convenience of your own home.

But once you complete the in-class educational component of driver’s education and learn everything you ever wanted to know about road safety, the next step to being comfortable with road safety and applying your driver’s education knowledge is obvious: Get behind the wheel to practice everything that was preached.

But where do you start? Is it safe to just get behind the wheel and drive?

That’s where parents come in. Once you have your learner’s permit, you’ll be eligible to get behind the wheel as long as someone with a driver’s license and years of experience is in the front seat with you. Here are some tips on some great places to start learning how to drive.

Start in an Empty Parking Lot

Empty parking lots can help simulate a real-world road environment while minimizing the dangers that come with actually being out on the road. One of the best places to start learning how to drive is in a school parking lot after hours. Wait until it is the weekend, later in the evening, or over a holiday, and the school parking lot will likely be empty. You can also typically find an empty parking lot by going to a closed shopping center.

The first time a driver’s education student gets behind the wheel could very well be with his or her parent. Having never been behind the wheel of a car before, the last thing you want is to be out in the middle of a busy intersection without being comfortable operating a motor vehicle.

A wide-open parking lot can help you get comfortable with steering, stepping on the gas, braking, and turning. Sure, you’ve heard how to properly make that left turn in a driver’s education class. But talking about it and doing it are two completely different things. You’ll be able to get a feel for how a vehicle responds to human control in a safer environment.

What’s more, with all those empty parking spaces, you’ve got the perfect opportunity to practice parking. Make a right turn into a spot. Make a left turn into a spot. Back into a spot. Do a three-point turn to turn around. The possibilities for applying your driver’s education knowledge are endless.

You can even turn that parking lot into a simulated main street. Set up pylons and simulate parked vehicles, pedestrians, curbs, stop signs, traffic lights, and other things that you’d experience out on the road. This will help you prepare for your in-car driver’s education class before you get out on the road in a real-world environment.

Move up to More Crowded Parking Lots

Once you are feeling comfortable with the basics of driving (steering, braking, turning, reversing, parking) move up to a larger, more crowded parking lot. You can go to a mall or a shopping center during business hours.

Take the skills you are learning and start using them around other drivers. Now, instead of parking in an empty lot, try parking next to an already parked car. Then reverse out with another row of cars behind you.

You can circle the parking lot and pretend they are actual streets. There are several areas in parking lots that act as small intersections. The important piece is to start feeling comfortable with other vehicles on the road.

Practice on Various Types of Road

Make sure that you practice driving on different types of roads such as asphalt, dirt, and gravel. The car will handle differently on different types of roads so it’s important to get a good feeling for each. You may notice the steering and accelerating will vary depending on the road.

Find back roads that aren’t as commonly traveled to practice your driving skills on these different road types.

Find Roads with Different Speed Limits

Drive on roads with varied speed limits so you can start to get used to how it feels to travel at 25 mph versus 35 mph, versus 40 mph. Once you have enough practice you’ll be able to get a good sense of your speed without even looking at the speedometer.

For now, just practice at one speed until you get comfortable with it, and then move to a faster speed until you get comfortable with it. Remember to move back to the slower speed afterward so you can get a good sense of how it feels at each speed.

Drive on Roads with Different Weather and Visibility Conditions

Practice driving in different weather and visibility conditions. Try driving in the rain and snow. The road is much different when there is rain or snow, especially if it is the first rain of the season. You should also make sure you can put on the proper snow equipment such as cables or chains.

You should also practice driving at night. Driving at night adds new challenges because of the decreased visibility and the need to be extra cautious of other drivers and pedestrians.

Once you are feeling comfortable with driving in the rain and driving at night you should combine the two. Though it is more difficult to drive at night in the rain it is an important skill to have and a situation you will likely come across often.

Practice Using Freeway On and Off Ramps

Once you have mastered the basics of driving on varying road types with varying speed limits and in different weather and visibility conditions you should move on to the freeway. Start by getting used to entering and exiting the freeway. Enter the freeway and then take the next exit, you can loop back around and do the reverse. Make sure you feel very comfortable with getting on and off the freeway and getting up to freeway speed.

When you have a new driver in the family, one of the most important things to do is raise their confidence level. While you don’t want them to do anything foolish like trying to text and drive or driving in weather conditions that are unsafe, you do want to raise their confidence and inspire them to feel comfortable behind the wheel. These five strategies will help your new driver feel more confident, enabling them to tackle on-the-road challenges without a problem.

1. Stay calm.

When you ride together, resist the urge to slam your foot into the invisible (and absent) brake on your side of the car or to reach for the wheel every time your child drifts a few inches away from the center of the lane. When you are calm and confident in your child’s driving abilities, you’ll quickly discover that their confidence increases, too! An uneasy parent, however, can destroy a child’s confidence behind the wheel and make it hard for them to manage unexpected challenges.

2. Look for opportunities to build their experience without overwhelming them.

Do you need something from the gas station at the bottom of the hill? Send your new driver to pick it up. Need the car moved from the garage to the driveway? Your new driver can take care of that! Allowing your new driver to take care of small errands accomplishes two key things. First, it gives your new driver plenty of experience with small trips when you’re still close by and can offer advice or help if needed. Second, it shows them that you believe them capable of taking care of those trips. Not only that, it frees you up to take care of other things instead of having to run out every time you need to make a short trip. What could be better?

3. Build experience in many different areas.

Let your new driver have the chance to drive in the rain. If ice and snow are common in your area, take them out on the road when conditions are starting to become difficult to navigate. Look for opportunities to go driving together at night. The more time your new driver spends on the road in different conditions, the easier it will be for them to tackle those conditions when they’re on their own and they have no other choice. Time of day matters, too: early experience may be best built when the roads are as empty as possible, but your new driver needs to know how to navigate rush hour, too.

4. Help your child solve common driving problems.

Everything from an oncoming emergency vehicle with nowhere to go to lousy road conditions at a moment when you can’t pull off the road can feel like a crisis to a new driver. By role-playing these situations, even if your child doesn’t actually experience them, you can build confidence for when those moments do occur.

5. Give it time.

Some people take to driving as though they’ve been waiting their whole lives to get behind the wheel. Others struggle to develop that much-needed confidence. Give your child time to build their skills and develop that confidence in their own way. It may take 3 years and 20,000 miles or more for your child to build their confidence if they’re close to the average. Letting them have time to develop it will go a long way toward increasing their capability.

Your new driver is learning every time they get behind the wheel. The more opportunities they have to practice, the more confident they will become! Allow them the freedom to explore the roads both supervised and unsupervised, letting them try out their new skill to help their confidence soar.

◉ The Best Places To Learn How To Drive

Tag: Learning to Drive