A 15-year-old girl who allegedly taught herself to drive using online videos was stopped by police after driving alone across provincial borders in China following a dispute with her stepmother.
The teenager had reportedly left home in Yiyang, Hunan province, in the early hours of the morning before driving onto the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway towards Kaili, Guizhou province.
Traffic police from the Qiandongnan Public Security Bureau’s Seventh Expressway Brigade received an urgent alert from their command centre and quickly began searching for the vehicle.
Officers eventually located the car at the Kaili West toll station. To prevent the girl from panicking and making a dangerous driving manoeuvre, they calmly guided her to a stop.
Initially, the teenager was reluctant to cooperate with police. However, after officers spoke to her patiently, she explained that she had left home following an argument with her stepmother.
The girl claimed her stepmother had accused her of taking 100 yuan after discovering the money was missing. She also alleged that whenever something went missing at home, she was blamed.
“I was upset after having a conflict with my stepmother, so I left home in a fit of anger. She lost 100 yuan and accused me of taking it. Whenever anything goes missing at home, they say I took it,” she told police.
The teenager had reportedly taken the family car keys and learned to drive by watching online videos, despite being only 15 and not holding a driving licence.
During the journey from Hunan to Guizhou, she also allegedly scraped the car against a road barrier.
When an officer asked whether she was afraid of getting into a traffic accident, the girl replied that she was not, despite admitting she had considered the possibility of a crash.
“Your life belongs to you. You must take responsibility for yourself and your family,” the officer told her.
Police subsequently arranged for the girl to be taken to a safe location and contacted her family to collect her.
She was safely returned to her family and fined 1,000 yuan for driving a motor vehicle without a licence.
