Boy, 3, steers truck after mum falls out

A three-year-old Oklahoma boy took the wheel of a pickup truck and steered it to safety across a four-lane highway after his drunken mother fell out of the vehicle, police said.

The 33-year-old woman, Taloa Foster, has been arrested for child endangerment after being suspected of drunken driving, they said.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol arrested Foster after witnesses saw her tumble out of her truck on a rural highway near Ada, located about 130km southeast of Oklahoma City, police said.

Foster’s three-year-old twins were in the truck, and one of the children stood up on the seat behind the wheel, steering the truck about three blocks across four lanes of highway before crashing into an embankment, they said.

A passing motorist turned around and activated his flashing safety lights to stop other vehicles from crashing into the boys.

The Pontotoc County District Attorney filed a child endangerment charge for driving under the influence.

The mother told authorities the boy had unbuckled his seat belt and she fell out while trying to buckle him back in.

According to The Ada News, authorities found an empty liquor bottle on the floor of the pickup.

The children were not injured in the incident.