A four-year-old Michigan boy drove his mother’s car to the video store and back. It was closed, unfortunately:

Osga then discovered the boy, whose mother told police her son tried to drive the car earlier after she let him steer the vehicle from her lap.

“He’s 4 years old, his mom didn’t even know he was up,” Heugel told The Grand Rapids Press for a Sunday story. “I don’t think he even realizes what he did.”

No charges will be filed against the boy or his mother, Heugel said.

It was the third time in six weeks that a west Michigan child was caught driving a vehicle.

Hey, when you’re one of the leading producers of the product, you want to get them started early.

Seriously, growing up in Michigan, and particularly in Flint, Michigan, which was then (and still remains largely today) a one-industry town, there was a lot of emphasis on driver’s ed. There used to be a miniature town in Kearsley Park, with little blacktop roads, stop and yield signs, one-way streets and traffic signals. It was called Safetyville, USA, sponsored by the Industrial Mutual Association (IMA) of Flint. There were small electric cars that children could drive around on the streets, but before you could get a “license” to do so, you had to go through driver’s training, and learn the road rules.

Apparently, it’s still there, but without the cars. It was a great idea, and I’m a little surprised that it didn’t survive, or spread to other communities.