Ten-year-old saves mother's life by driving car

A 10-year-old French boy saved his mother by driving their car on a rush-hour ringroad after she passed out while at the wheel. The boy, Idriss, steered the car from the passenger seat at 8.15 am in the central French city of Lyon.

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Idriss was helped by lorry driver Johny, who noticed the car zigzagging on the busy three-lane road.

“I pulled up alongside it and I saw that a boy of about 10-years-old was in trouble,” Johny told the local paper, Le Progrès. “He was holding the wheel from the passenger seat. His mother was unconscious and her head was slumped against the window.”

The lorry driver drove alongside the car as it slowed down and, eventually, stopped 500 metres away from a traffic jam.

“I’ve got to hand it to the kid,” Johny said. “He was extremely strong and courageous, without crying or anything. He didn’t really know what was going on. I took him in my arms and talked to him. I was on the verge of tears myself.”

Idriss’s mother had regained consciousness by the time the emergency services arrived. She had suffered an epileptic fit.