Father has 9 year old daughter as designated driver

Well, she was driving good.

''“She’s driving pretty good. I’m telling you, I can’t believe it”. The witness followed the van until police arrived to make the traffic stop. Officers found the girl sitting on a booster seat behind the wheel. Weimer, who had visitation with his daughter on weekends, was arrested and the child was turned over to the care of relatives. Police say Weimer didn't see a problem letting his nine-year-old daughter drive. The girl told officers her father had been drinking whiskey and that he had let her drive before.'''

edited 18th Oct '11 5:40:40 PM by mailedbypostman

Honestly, as bad a call as he made, at least he didn't drive drunk.

Well legally I am against him. Morally I have nothing really wrong with it. If a kid can drive well then they can drive well. If they can't they can't.

This was on the local news. Ridiculous I say.

Kid got a candy apple for her trouble. Daddy got arrested.

Yeah, no, this isn't a good thing at all, but at least no one got hurt.

My Dad did the same thing near this girl's age. Only he had to drive with my grandfather's feet out the window all the way to Lamar from Pueblo. (Total distance: approximately 120 miles.)

How was she even reaching the pedals?

Maybe it was just a taller than usual 9 year old? My big-for-her-age neice is only 7 and she could easily reach the pedals.

But she was on a booster seat.

Long legs and/or something attached to her shoes, problem solved.

Small car.

They showed the video of her and her dad from the gas station on the news, and she doesn't look that tall. She also didn't have anything on her feet that I could see...

If she can drive, why not?

Because laws.

My dad's been driving since he was in elementary school.

But I'm wondering if anyone taught her how to drive, or she's just improvising.

driving in optimal conditions with little in the way of traffic wouldn't be too difficult. I did so when i was 11 >_>

But the problem is when things aren't optimal. They'd be fucked if it was winter, or if the driver ahead of them stopped suddenly or if it was raining hard or...

Natural selection. A Darwin Award.

Sad for the girl, but perhaps better for humanity, considering her dad's stupidity. /cynism.

This makes sense: 9-year-old children aren't allowed to drink alcohol after all.

Stupidity isn't genetic. If anything, it's enviromental.

The guy got arrested for this? Shit, i've been driving since I was 10.

Were you actually caught?

Nope; stealth and subversion run in the family.

For the supporters of underage driving, there's a driving age for a reason. Just because she can go a certain distance without getting hurt doesn't mean she was a good driver, just that she was focused enough and in good enough conditions to not get in a major crash.

Children have a lack of focus, less physical understanding, less reaction time, and an overall lack of major training; if any one of the thousands of possible things to go wrong went wrong, the headline would instead be much darker, not to mention mentally and physically scarring for the child if she survived.

There's a reason children under 12 aren't allowed to be in the passenger seat, and that still applies to the driver's seat, and more. ^ The "more" is explained nicely there.