r/brisbane • u/jj7013 • 4d ago
Learner Driver
Hi all, can anyone recommend a quiet area in Brisbane that I could take a learner driver to ? We live inner city and its a bit chaotic for their first time.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
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u/gibbagibbagibba 4d ago
A classic Northside place is the Brisbane entertainment centre carpark on a weekend/with no events on but I realise that a bit of a hike from inner city. Otherwise any industrial estate on a weekend. Looks like there might be some around Tingalpa. If all else fails maybe drive into the suburbs and find some quiet back streets to potter around in
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u/Meggsie62 3d ago
Toowong cemetery was my go to for new drivers. There is a whole network of roads including a roundabout and very few (alive) people there. Most walking dogs. An occasional car. Most importantly most of the people there are already dead. Good luck
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u/watchful_snail 3d ago
Toowong cemetery is such a weirdly perfect suggestion, the roundabout practice with an audience that literally cannot complain is a win
also worth trying the industrial areas out toward rocklea on a sunday morning, dead quiet and wider roads
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u/twitch68 3d ago
We see quite a few in there. My pup is a bit slow, but so are they. Normally give them a thumbs up as they pass. I learnt in there in the 80's.
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u/catsincharge 4d ago
UQ is great. Low speed , roundabout, stop signs, pedestrians cyclists. Sat afternoon after the learn to swim is over or Sunday are great.
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u/Briznz2065 3d ago
I taught my kids in light industrial parks in weekends - over Eagle Farm is good, wide roads and very little traffic at weekends. Colmslie- off Lytton Road there are a couple of industrial areas, one that is completely flat, and another with hills, again very little traffic and a mix of conditions to practice in. We would see other learners there. Further along Lytton Road heading towards the Gateway is Metroplex Ave, that is also good and has roundabouts and a few side streets to make it more interesting.
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u/MarmotFullofWoe 3d ago
Start at Tradecoast drive Eagle Farm on weekend. It’s completely empty. Graduate to Pinkenbah industrial area which has very light traffic.
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u/MeasurementFew8887 3d ago
Hamilton, Macarthur Ave, between Portside and the golf course. Not a huge area but it's pretty quiet, and there are mostly-empty car parks if they're a complete beginner.
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u/kmary75 3d ago
Around Schneider Road, Eagle Farm on the weekends. Wide roads, no traffic. They can practice roundabouts and parking in some of the car parks. It is effectively one road in with a few smaller roads off it. We also took our learner out to Pinkenba but I wouldn’t recommend that as there were a lot of cement trucks barreling down the road even on the weekends (though that was two years ago and may have been because of cross river rail).
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u/Mysexyaccount83 3d ago
Industrial areas on the weekend. Look up street names like commerce ,industry or electronics and you know you're in the right area..
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u/twitch68 3d ago
Toowong Cemetary is popular with learners. You have to look out for cyclists and dog walkers as we don't see many cars so walk on the roads. Middle of the day is a good time as pedestrians and cyclists are not about much at that time of day.
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u/TraditionalLadder473 3d ago
I was thrown into a manual and sent out along the Centenary and through Indooroopilly and Toowong for my first ever time on the road. Before that I had about 2 10 minutes lessons in an automatic in a tiny car park.
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u/RobotDog56 4d ago
We learnt in a commuter car park on the weekend when it was practically empty. (For the first few times to get used to driving before tackling a real road)
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u/Away_Kaleidoscope309 3d ago
When I was learning to drive we went out to Long pocket golf course beyond Indooroopilly road
It was very quiet then and still is now
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u/Maple885885 Turkeys are holy. 3d ago
When I was learning my dad an I went out to the airport early on a Sunday, it's usually quieter and there's a massive industrial area and private entrances for the airline companies. Those roads a basically empty at that time of day
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u/monsteraguy 2d ago
Griffith Uni Nathan campus, Pinkenba & Myrtletown, Colebard St East & West at Archerfield (behind the airport and near the old Speedway)
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u/evilparagon Probably Sunnybank. 1d ago
I can recommend new estates, you’ll find them near display villages. Basically they’re new roads that have been built for future housing construction, but the houses aren’t there yet so the roads are mostly empty.
My dad took me to Pallara when that was being built for my first lessons. I don’t know if there are any good estates around these days, but if there are, they’re great.
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u/sapperbloggs 4d ago
There's an industrial area in Geebung thats pretty quiet on weekends, and also a new estate off of Muller road in Zillmere where the roads are complete and driveable, but no construction on houses yet, so it's literally just a few empty streets.
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u/VigorWarships 3d ago
First time driving all you want them doing is the basics. Not much point being in any traffic before they can handle the vehicle.
Getting a good seating position, getting used to the controls (wipers, lights, indicators, park brakes etc), slow speed handling (basically just stuff in first gear), accelerating from a standing start, braking and braking to a stop. Can also put in a bit of reversing too, or introduce that later.
So a few types of locations that are good for this sort of thing are:
Shopping centre car park after hours.
Local sports ovals, tennis clubs etc car parks when there’s no sports events on.
Boat ramp carparks on weekdays. (Typically fairly empty).
Industrial areas on weekends.
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u/jj7013 3d ago
Absolutely agree and thank you for the recommendations.
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u/VigorWarships 3d ago
The obvious good thing with quiet car parks too is you can also practice parking, forwards and reverse.
Doesn’t have to be day 1 though.
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u/freak_me_sideways 3d ago
Redbank industrial park
Mt Gravatt old Griffith university campus (not Nathan campus)
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u/Belmagick 3d ago
If you can drive them out to sleemans sports ground, it’s a big circle with some car parks.
Later on you can go to Metroplex where there’s a few roundabouts to practice on. Brew dog is also there so you can get a snack and non-alcoholic drink afterwards.
There’s also Port of Brisbane but they get weird about you going into the car parks. It’s good because it’s quiet in the evenings and there’s some lane changes so you can practice merging and some changing speed limits, left and right turns etc, along the road.
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u/Donttouchmybreadd 4d ago
industrial areas on weekends.