5-year-old found behind the wheel of parents’ car: OPP

A youngster from Central Frontenac decided he needed drive himself to the store.

When Frontenac OPP arrived shortly after 7 a.m. Monday morning, they found a five-year-old had driven his family’s vehicle into a neighbour’s hay field.

“The parents were already there and so was the neighbour,” says Frontenac OPP Media Relations Officer Const. Richard Martin.

“What had happened is that the neighbour had seen these lights in his hay field, and called the OPP. Then he went to investigate and met his neighbours.”

Police say the child decided to get behind the wheel in order to go to the store to get a pink toy tractor for his little sister.

The child was unharmed, but the vehicle did sustain minor damages.

“Oh, this could’ve been quite dangerous,” says Martin.

“He didn’t get on to the main roadway, from the driveway he went straight into the field, but it could’ve been substantially dangerous. I don’t know if the boy was wearing a seatbelt or not, but he did go down a ditch and did strike a small tree.”

The OPP are using this as a cautionary tale, and would like to remind parents to keep an eye on their children at all times, and leave car keys out of reach.