History Main / KidsDrivingCars

In most developed countries, people under a certain age, usually between 15 and 18, are barred from driving cars. In TV-land, children and younger teens may be seen driving if the plot demands it, even though doing so would be illegal or downright impossible in RealLife. Sometimes, they even drive more-or-less effectively despite having never done so before.

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein juveniles there are casual references to helicopters being used as {{Flying Car}}s, such as the FarmBoy in ''Literature/SpaceCadet'' mentioning that he got his 'copter license at the age of twelve. In ''[[Literature/IfThisGoesOn Revolt in 2100]]'' the protagonist says that any schoolboy can push a helicopter (though not pilot the heavy bombing helicopters they need to win the revolt).

** "The Secret of Success" features the boys creating an "All Terrain Vehicle"--one that can truly go ''anywhere''. They drive around in it to show off how "All Terrain" it truly is. They operate it with a remote control, on the [[InsaneTrollLogic questionably logic]] that remote control cars don't need licenses.

* In the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series, since ''Double Dash'', baby versions of Mario characters are able to drive cars alongside their adult counterparts. Certain games even have cars that are specifically designed for them.
** In addition, there is also Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings (Though this is most likely to apply to Lemmy), who are around children ages.

* Tails and Amy are seen driving their race cars in various ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' racing games, such as ''VideoGame/SonicDrift'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAndSegaAllStarsRacing'', despite being 8 and 12 years old. Even Sonic may qualify for areas requiring to be 16 or older to drive, being 15 years old. Heck, Blaze and Silver, being 14, drive cars in ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing''.

* Being that he's no other than the son of former WRC driver Kalle Rovanperä, rally driver Kalle Rovanperä gained notoriety on the internet for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06OC5OZgkCg taking up rallying]] at just '''eight years old'''! Kalle Rovanperä formally competed in his early teens in Latvia where a driver's licence isn't required for motorsports events, with his co-driver Risto Pietiläinen having to take the wheel between stages. The Finnish traffic safety agency eventually granted Rovanperä a special exemption for him to apply for a licence a year early than the legal driving age, effectively opening the door for him to enter the UsefulNotes/WorldRallyChampionship, where in 2020 he made his championship debut under Toyota Gazoo Racing after his successful stint at Škoda's [=WRC2=] factory team. He since became the youngest ever World Rally champion at the age of 22, breaking the previous record set by the late Creator/ColinMcRae who won his sole driver's championship when he was 27.

* In the second season of ''Series/StrangerThings'', Steve (18) blacks out after his fight with Billy. Since he was the only one in the group old enough to drive, [[TomboyishName Max]] (13) ends up driving everyone to the pumpkin patch. Needless to say, she doesn't kill anyone, but Steve is very alarmed when he wakes up to find an eighth-grader driving the car.

** In "Little Big Girl", Bart steals every fire extinguisher in Springfield Elementary to propel his wagon. As Bart rockets around town, the foam released from the extinguishers puts out a wildfire the townspeople of Springfield unsuccessfully try to extinguish. Bart [[AccidentalHero is cheered as a hero by everyone]] and rewarded (at his own request) with a driver's license by Mayor Quimby, leading him to use Homer's car for his own pleasure. Being a ''legal'' driver proves less thrilling than his previous illegal escapades, however, as he's quickly forced to run errands for the entire family.

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', while Fukaziroh isn't actually a kid (aged 19), her in-game avatar is [[FunSize only around 150cm tall]] so that she has the appearance of one. Despite her size, she's able to drive a large humvee with no difficulty.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS1E4SkummLord Skumm Lord]]", the villains latest plot involves turning people into rat mutants via a special brew. When Wheeler, Linka and Gi end up infected as well, Ma-Ti and Kwame decide to take them to the shaman from Ma-Ti's tribe. Thus, Kwame catches the three on a lasso and pulls them aboard the Geo Cruiser, while the 12-year-old Ma-Ti is steering. To further complicate things, the villain immediately starts chasing them. [[AreYouSureYouCanDriveThisThing Kwame isn't sure of his young friend's skill from the beginning]], and [[NotSoStoic almost gets a panic attack]] when Ma-Ti reveals that he's only done one simulation on Hope Island. Unfortunately, they're too far along to switch pilots by that time.

* Subversion in ''Anime/StandByMeDoraemon2'', which have Nobita swapping bodies with his adult self. Adult!Nobita, stuck in kid!Nobita's body, accidentally runs into some hooligans and escapes by hijacking a delivery boy's motorcycle, but Nobita had never driven motorcycles either as a child or adult, and the results are as chaotic as one could expect.

* In ''Anime/AldnoahZero'', [[TokenMiniMoe Eddelrittuo]] commandeers a Humvee in the first season finale.
* While not exactly a "kid," 14 year old Shizuka Hattori from ''Manga/StrikeWitches'' is trained on how to drive an army Jeep. She does pretty well in normal circumstances, but when the Neuroi show up she lets her (slightly) more experienced instructor Yoshika Miyafuji take over the wheel.
* ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'' had the KidHero member, Jinpei, have a special license to drive his own car, which transformed into his all-terrain HoverTank when he went into costume.
* Masashi, classmate of ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'''s 12-year-old protagonist Naota, has a part-time job driving a (very small) delivery truck.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': After [[TheHero Jolyne]] and [[TheLancer Ermes]] manage to break out of Green Dolphin Street Prison, they have [[TagalongKid Emporio]] drive them to the Kennedy Space Center to stop [[BigBad Pucci]]. Granted, he did learn the basic mechanics of cars during his time reading books in the prison's library, but ''still''.
* Exaggerated in ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' and its spinoffs, not only we have high school girls driving and shooting around in World War 2 tanks, but they also can be seen behind the wheels of many other heavy duty military vehicles such as helicopters, airships and even a freaking ''strategic airlifter''.

* Toward the end of ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'', the porcupine pups have taken over driving the exterminator's van. Unfortunately, their only frame of reference is a video game where the objective is to cause as much mayhem as possible. As such, they see people throwing a block party as "bonus points", and the speed limit (which they are exceeding by an increasing margin) as their score.

--> '''Jenny:''' How do you know how to drive [[BuffySpeak this thing]]?
--> '''Chowder:''' I ''don't''.

-->'''Bruce:''' I've half a mind to report you for Grand Theft Auto!
-->'''Damian:''' I'd like to hear ''that'' call. Hello, police? My son just stole the Batmobile.

* During the climax of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie'', Gerald gets behind the wheel of a runaway city bus when the driver is knocked out cold while Arnold and Helga work on the pedals.

* In ''Film/TheGnomemobile'' young Elizabeth and Rodney drive a car with one running the pedals and the other steering the wheel.

* ''Literature/AllTheWrongQuestions'': The Bellerophon brothers, who run their father’s taxi service because he’s ill. Since both of them are too short to drive on their own, Pip works the steering wheel while Squeak works the brakes, and this arrangement works out pretty well.

* The children's book series ''Literature/TheSistersEight'' involves eight sisters being left alone without a guardian after their parents mysteriously vanish. Whenever they have to go somewhere, Annie (who is only seven) dresses up as an adult and drives the car, using sticks to reach the pedals. It actually works.

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein juveniles there are casual references to helicopters being used as {{Flying Car}}s, such as the FarmBoy in ''Literature/SpaceCadet'' mentioning that he got his 'copter license at the age of twelve. In ''[[Literature/IfThisGoesOn Revolt in 2100]]'' the protagonist says that any schoolboy can push a helicopter (though not pilot the heavy bombing helicopters they need to win the revolt).

* Attempted in ''Literature/BudNotBuddy''. Bud is traveling through the countryside on foot late at night when Mr. Lewis, who is transporting blood to the hospital, gives him a lift. Bud sees the blood, thinks Mr. Lewis is a vampire, and tries to drive off in the car. Mr. Lewis is terrified to be left stranded near a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town sundown town]], where he could be arrested or killed if anyone sees him. Luckily Bud doesn't know how the gear shift works, so the car comes to a stop a short distance later.
* ''Literature/PilgrennonsChildren'': While ten-year-old Dana is trying to find Pilgrennon's hideout in the first book, she steals a man's car and figures out how to drive it, with much trial and error. Luckily she's in a sparsely populated area, and manages to drive a number of miles before crashing.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', it is revealed that 14-year-old Ashley has been secretly driving cars ever since she was twelve years old. But it turns out to be a good thing because nobody else is around to drive her pregnant mother to the hospital to have her baby.
* In the second season of ''Series/StrangerThings'', Steve (18) blacks out after his fight with Billy. Since he was the only one in the group old enough to drive, [[TomboyishName Max]] (13) ends up driving everyone to the pumpkin patch. Needless to say, she doesn't kill anyone, but Steve is very alarmed when he wakes up to find an eighth-grader driving the car.
* In an episode of ''Series/YoungSheldon'', 14-year old George Jr. steals Meemaw's car keys and car to drive him, Sheldon and Missy all go to the hospital to go see their father who has been hospitalized by a heart attack. Being too afraid to get in an accident or be noticed by authorities, Georgie goes too slowly which is just as hazardous as driving too fast.

* This [[https://youtu.be/L2uWXJA0rgk early-70s PSA]] shows the dangers of leaving a curious child alone in a running vehicle.
* A few clips on ''Series/WorldsDumbest'' have children taking cars on joyrides. On one of those clips, Gary Busey chastises the car's owner for leaving the doors unlocked, allowing a kid to take it.
* ''Series/{{CHiPs}}'' had an episode where John and Ponch have to chase down a couple of kids driving around in a car and it gets out of control since they obviously don't know how to drive.

* ''Series/AmericasDumbestCriminals'': In one episode Creator/DanielButler relates the tale of a very drunk guy who decided to have his ten-year-old son drive them home. A police car spotted the pair; when the cop flashed lights and siren, the kid's dad told him to "keep going"(!). With options limited, the officer called the situation in and followed, then [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome busted the dad]] once the kid pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. The re-enactment put a ten-year-old actor in the front seat of a (parked) car used to show just how bad an idea this was; he could just see over the dashboard.

* An episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' has a 12-year-old taking the family car to commit a drive-by shooting at a park hoping to kill the slimy gun dealer who his mother is having an affair with. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he ends up accidentally killing his six-year-old sister, who was also at the park.]]
* In ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' episode "The Driver's Seat", D.J. takes the car for a spin, crashes it and walks back home with the family none the wiser until the cops end up locating it and giving a description of the driver which fit him to a T. Sadly, this causes an already stressed-out and angry Roseanne to both yell at [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness and smack him.]]

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** Occasionally, the four main boys drive automobiles.
** Stan drove his dad's car and a bus.
** Cartman drives a NASCAR race car in "Poor and Stupid".
** Happens in the special "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers". Pete steals a car, belonging to Henriette's mother, and drives it to Troubled Acres. He is accompanied by Firkle, a group of the Vampire Society and the spirit of Edgar Allen Poe.

'''Bart''': Okay ... but it's my first time.\\

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TheGetAlongGang The Get Along Gang]]'' pilot episode, the Gang had to drive in a car race to win the last item from the scavenger hunt list, and nobody in the gang is even old enough to have a learner's permit!
* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': On Bortron 7, flying saucers are treated as cars. Jet builds and flies his own little saucer starting in "What Goes Up...", and Zerk can drive too. Jet and Zerk are both children, and they can drive presumably because Bortron 7 has different driving laws than any country on Earth.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': Billy, Mandy, Mindy, Sperg and Irwin compete in an Indy 500 race during the episode "Go-Kart 3000". Mindy drives a Formula One race car while Mandy drives a race car that is actually Grim. Billy and Irwin drive a car that they made out of [[BambooTechnology wood and junk]]. Sperg drives a giant, monstrous vehicle.
* Occurs several times in ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'':
** In "Ewww That's Growth", Dexter undergoes a scientific experiment, which increases his height. Dexter's new height impresses his dad and he lets Dexter drive himself and Dee Dee to a carnival.
** In "Mock 5", a parody of ''Anime/SpeedRacer'', Dexter drives a race car through a soap box derby. His rival, Mandark, competes in the derby and drives a race car as well. Dee Dee is another racer, who is disguised as Racer D.
** Dexter is also seen driving small vehicles throughout his lab.
* ''WesternAnimation/GodTheDevilAndBob'': In the episode "Date from Hell", TheDevil disguises himself as a 13-year-old boy named Jordan. He dates Megan; Bob's daughter. While on a date, Jordan drives Megan to a roller rink.
-->'''Megan:''' How are you able to drive at age 13?
-->'''Jordan:''' I don't know.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'': In the episode "Nice Mustache", Jake grows a mustache despite being 12 years old. One of the first things that he does is buy a car. He drives it with his best friend, Adam, who protests that Jake isn't old enough to drive. They are pulled over by a police officer. Instead of being arrested for underage driving, the officer complements Jake on his mustache.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'': Enzo Matrix has driven a vehicle while he was still a young sprite. In the game Formula One, Enzo rebooted and drove a race car through the first lap of the course. He raced with his older sister, Dot. In the second lap, he tried to drive a hovercraft but it was taken over by Dot. Neither of them competed in the third and final lap, which involved racing in jets.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': In "Racing Slicks", Bean scout Edward uses a credit card to buy a race car despite being only a child. He drives the race car in Camp Kidney's soap box derby.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Independent Film", Steve, Snot, Barry and Toshi take a trip to the funeral of Snot's deadbeat dad. They are all 14 and have no adult supervision, with Barry behind the wheel. Lampshaded by Toshi.
-->'''Toshi''': Is Barry old enough to drive?

* There was the notorious 7-year old Latarian Milton who in 2008 took his grandmother's SUV for a joyride, then hit a dozen parked cars at a Walmart parking lot and ultimately destroyed the SUV
itself by driving off a curb that was thick enough to snap the front axle off. The police say he was too short to see over the steering wheel. As of today, Latarian's status is unknown but he is keeping a low profile since 2018 when he was arrested and incarcerated for armed robbery of a Lyft driver.

* ''Film/LittleMan'' is actually about a 2.5 feet tall adult dwarf masquerading as a baby. He drives a car and uses a toy baseball bat
to depress the gas pedal; seen as a young boy.

In ''Film/TheGnomemobile'' young Elizabeth and Rodney drive a car with one running the pedals and the other steering the wheel

--> '''Jenny:''' How do you kn70'sow how to drive [[BuffySpeak this thing]]?

* ''Little Man'' is actually about a 2.5 feet tall adult dwarf masquerading as a baby. He drives a car and uses a toy baseball bat

In ''The Gnomemobile'' young Elizabeth and Rodney drive a car with one running the pedals and the other steering the wheel

--> '''Jenny:''' How do you know how to drive [[BuffySpeak this thing]]?

* ''Film/Little Man'' is actually about a 2.5 feet tall adult dwarf masquerading as a baby. He drives a car and uses a toy baseball bat

In ''Film/The Gnomemobile'' young Elizabeth and Rodney drive a car with one running the pedals and the other steering the wheel

* There was the notorious 7-year old Latarian Milton who in 2008 took his grandmother's SUV for a joyride, then hit a dozen parked cars at a Walmart parking lot and ultimately destroyed the SUV itself by driving off a curb that was thick enough to snap the front axle off. The police say he was too short to see over the steering wheel. As of today, Latarian's status is unknown but he is keeping a low profile since 2018 when he was arrested and incarcerated for armed robbery of a Lyft driver.

* ''Little Man'' is actually about a 2.5 feet tall adult dwarf masquerading as a baby. He drives a car and uses a toy baseball bat

I. ''The Gnomemobile'' young Elizabeth and Rodney drive a car with one running the pedals and the other steering the wheel

* ''Little Man's

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'': Indy has Short Round act as a getaway driver for his meeting with Lao Che. Short Round's age isn't given in the film, but his actor (Ke Huy Quan) was twelve when the movie came out. He ties boxes around his feet to operate the pedals of the car.

* In the ''Film/TheLovelyBones'', In a flashback scene a ''12-year-old'' Susie Salmon takes her parents' car so she can take her younger brother Buckley to the hospital after noticing that he's choking on a twig.

* At the end of ''Film/ThePokerHouse'' fourteen-year-old Agnes (played by Creator/JenniferLawrence), drives in the family's station wagon to pick up her younger sisters after [[spoiler: winning her basketball game]].
* In ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', during an emergency Elliot's brother Michael, who was around the age of 15, goes to hijack and drive away the van with E.T. inside. There was some ChekhovsSkill dropped earlier about him being able(ish) to drive the family car backwards but the van was a whole different beast.
* Kenny Dantley from ''Film/CorvetteSummer'' learned to drive when he was nine and was racing cars at thirteen.
* Justified in ''Film/HolyMatrimony''. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character is a Mennonite farm-boy and has a license to drive a pickup truck on their property, but when they hit the highway he has to turn over the wheel to an adult (who he has to instruct on how to drive a stick-shift).
* In the DVD extras for ''Film/{{Desperado}}'', Creator/RobertRodriguez films some Mexican preteens driving a car, and says this isn't an unusual sight SouthOfTheBorder.
* ''Film/{{Mermaids}}'': Rachel Flax allows her 15-year-old daughter Charlotte drive her car, and it's implied that she taught Charlotte even before that. Charlotte later steals her mother's car and runs away because she thinks she's pregnant after kissing her crush ([[MissConception long story]]).
* Spanish film ''Volando voy'' is [[BasedOnATrueStory based on the true story]] of Juan Carlos Delgado 'El Pera', who became notorious in the late 70's for easily stealing and driving cars for local mobsters... at the age of 11.
* ''Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie'': 12-year-old Justin becomes the new blue ranger. He also becomes the driver of the Mountain Blaster Turbozord.
-->'''Justin:''' Good thing you don't need a license to drive a Zord.
* ''Film/AboutScout'': After Scout and Sam steal a car, Scout does most of the driving, even though she's fifteen and Sam has a driver's license.
* ''Film/WandaNevada'': When Strap and Ruby are pursuing Beau and Wanda by car, Beau has thirteen-year-old Wanda take over the steering wheel while he shoots their tires.
* In ''Film/WildAmerica'', Marshall's older brothers let him drive them back home, even though he isn't old enough. A few miles outside Fort Smith, he starts pretending he's flying an airplane, so he swerves all over the road and then crashes. Their father has to tow the car the remaining three miles.
* ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'': As a way of escaping Camp Chippewa, young Pugsley steals a van and drives home with his older sister, Wednesday. Their friend, Joel Glicker, is offered a ride but he declines it.
* ''Film/JoshAndSAM'': Brothers Joshua and Samuel Whitney steal their parents' car and use it to run away from home. Despite being 14 years and 9 years old, they don't have any trouble with driving the car.
* ''Film/CopCar'': Two adolescents take a joy ride in a cop car, little realizing that the cop in question is corrupt and has a murder victim in the trunk.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SonOfBatman'', just as soon as Talia drops Damian (his age isn't stated, but he can't be older than 11-12) with Batman to take care of him, Damian demands to drive the Batmobile, arguing that he knows how to do it, but Batman refuses. Then at the start of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsRobin'', we see Damian (now as Robin) stole the Batmobile to go ahead to investigate a town, driving it by himself.

* An 11 year old boy saw his grandmother getting faint, and [[https://nypost.com/2020/09/04/11-year-old-boy-drives-grandma-to-hospital-in-a-mercedes-benz/ drove her home for her meds]]. Luckily, it was just a short drive through a residential area and he'd already had some experience rearranging cars in the driveway under his grandfather's supervision, so he managed to get them home and into the driveway without any problems.
* The infamous case of an 8-year-old driving his 4-year-old sister to McDonalds after [[https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ohio-boy-8-steals-father-car-drives-mcdonald-article-1.3048392 watching Youtube videos on driving]]. Miraculously, he managed to make it all the way there without incident, after which the police picked them up and took them home.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': After [[TheHero Jolyne]] and [[TheLancer Ermes]] manage to break out of Green Dolphin Street Prison, they have [[TagalongKid Emporio]] drive them to the Kennedy Space Center to stop [[BigBad Pucci]]. Granted, he did learn the basic mechanics of cars during his time reading books in the prison's library, but ''still''.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': After [[TheHero Jolyne]] and [[TheLancer Ermes]] manage to break out of Green Dolphin Street Prison, they have [[TagalongKid Emporio]] drive them to the Kennedy Space Center to stop [[BigBad Pucci]]. Granted, he did learn the basic mechanics of cars during his time in the prison's library, but ''still''.