There’s nothing like the open road.
A 12-year-old boy attempting to drive across Australia by himself drove more than 800 miles before police arrested him.
Authorities from the Broken Hill Highway Patrol stopped the boy around 11 a.m. on Saturday, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement.
“Checks revealed the driver to be a 12-year-old boy traveling from Kendall NSW on his way to Perth,” police said.
The boy was pulled over when highway patrol officers noticed his vehicle’s bumper dragging across the ground.
“Officers from Broken Hill Highway Patrol stopped a motor vehicle on the Barrier Highway due to defects which made the vehicle hazardous,” police said.
The child happened to be traveling during day two of “Operation Go Slow,” a driver safety campaign featuring heightened police presence on the roads in New South Wales.
The boy was arrested and taken to the Broken Hill Police Station.
The road trip would be an ambitious one for even the most experienced traveler. It is unclear how he traveled such a great distance and refueled the car, all without being noticed, The Guardian noted.
Of course, this isn’t the first time a child has decided to take a road trip. Last year, two determined pre-schoolers in Washington state took the keys to their parents’ SUV with hopes of visiting their grandma, only to crash into another car.
