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Police in Fuefuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, have arrested a man in his 40s after he let his elementary school daughter drive his car in May.
The incident came to light after a video of the girl holding the steering wheel was posted on a members-only social media site, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police said the man has been charged with violation of the Road Traffic Law.
In the video, the man, whose name has not been released by the police, is seated in the front passenger seat as the car pulls out of a parking lot. A young girl is in the driver’s seat and has her hands on the steering wheel as the car moves along a road. It then makes a turn at an intersection.
Police said the video was filmed by someone in the back seat and posted online in late May. After they received a complaint, police investigated the source of the video.
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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Desert Tortoise
Our 5yo sits in my lap and "parks" the car on the driveway.
Goodlucktoyou
Like drinking a small glass of beer with family diner at 15, learning to drive young will develop responsible skills.
Graham DeShazo
This is called “childhood” in Kansas.
BakabonPapa
Ah, the perils of SNS....
Opinionator
While her age, the remoteness of location and the time of day are significant missing details, what sets off alarm bells in my head is the word "intersection". I let my son steer the car in an old abandoned parking lot in the mountains from my lap when he was 7 or 8 and also down a road that was barricaded for the winter on one end. He loved it and learned a lot. That said, I would never let him anywhere near an intersection like that.
shogun36
When I was in elementary school, we had Pole Position, Hang On, and RC Pro Am.
Let the kids Stick with the video games and you just drive them to school buddy.
What’s the matter with you?
isoducky
If the father had been in tandem with his child in the driver's seat, everything would have been ok. As the father is in the front passenger seat, I'd call it a moving violation, issue a ticket, and be done with it. I think the arrest goes a bit too far.
Ken Wyatt
If you were steering, then your dad did NOT have 100% control of the car.
timeon
This was one of the delights in my childhood, when I was going fishing with my dad, he used to let me drive on some dirt roads near the lake. I don't think those were considered public roads, and there were no other vehicles or people around. These are some of the fondest memories of my childhood, thanks dad
egads man!
Same for me but only on the road back to the house.
Speed
My dad used to let me do this when I was a kild too. Just steering. He still had 100% control of the car.
Mickelicious
I let my (then) 10 year-old 'drive' when bullying had got the better of him.
Found a straight, flat dead end with excellent visibility far from any houses. He was to touch the big pedal only, and the Prius idled along on battery power at maybe 10kph for a minute or so. Great confidence booster.
This guy, though, sounds like a lunatic, and it's a good job Mum (?) was in the back seat.
Vince Black
What a loser. Endangering both his daughters life (if that bothers him) and others. He should be locked up until she’s an adult.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Should have stayed in the parking lot where traffic laws don’t apply.
Mickelicious
The Fuefuki whistleblower? Poetic.