Drunk Dad Makes Eight-Year-Old Son Drive Him Home From Bar [Report]

Would you consider an eight-year-old boy a viable designated-driver candidate?

An alleged drunk father in Poland — if this report is accurate — apparently thought so, and can you guess what happened on the way home?

Let’s put it this way: He probably won’t be a candidate for father of the year after a three-car pileup occurred.

The incident happened in the town of Gielniow, where the dad in question allegedly had been partaking of adult beverages in a bar all afternoon. The man apparently realized he was too tipsy to drive himself, and rather than calling a cab, he instead called his son and ordered the boy to ride his bicycle to the pub. Once there, he gave the youngster the keys to the car.

“He told police that he had allowed the youngster to practice driving at weekends in a local supermarket car park, and thought it would be fine for his son to drive him the short distance home. But as the eight-year-old struggled behind the wheel of the Opel Corsa he pulled in front of a car coming the other way at a crossing, and that sent him careering over the road into a third car.”

FIve people, including the father and son, wound up being transported to a local hospital with cuts and bruises, but fortunately no one was seriously injured in the crash.

The father was subsequently arrested and charged with endangering the life of a minor and causing an accident. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years.

The Inquisitr reported on two similar alleged incidents of unconventional designated driving in this country. In one, a drunk dad gave the keys of his truck to his eight-year-old son during a family trip from Mississippi to Texas, and the kid got behind the wheel. In another incident, a nine-year-old girl took over the driving duties for her inebriated dad in the Detroit area. Police stopped both vehicles before any problems developed, however.

Poland is considering measures to stiffen penalties for drunk driving, including more jail time and higher fines, after a New Year’s Day tragedy that took the lives of six people.

“Poland has one of the worst road safety ratings in the 28-member European Union, and reckless and drunk driving are part of the problem.”

[Image credit: Shutterstock]