A problematic oversight. The highways are full in this summer of 2023. Many vacationers take to the road to go on vacation. For others, it’s also the great return home before returning to work and back to school. Funny moment of the holidays, the stops on the rest areas of the motorway are moments apart. And for some, they are not about to forget it… Sunday August 13, 2023, an 11-year-old child was forgotten by his parents on the Mayenne motorway service area, on the A81. As reported South West, in its edition of Monday August 14, 2023, the teenager is in good health, and was recovered by his parents. In addition to having forgotten their child, the parents realized the absence of the latter after 45 minutes of travel. Immediately, they informed the gendarmes of Mayenne who went there to recover the child, while waiting for the arrival of the parents.
Many forgotten children…
This is not the first time that a child has been left behind on the vacation route. Already in February 2023, the daily South West brought to light an almost similar misadventure. In this last case, a 14-year-old boy had been forgotten at the Roquemaure rest area, in the Gard. Again, his parents had not realized that the child had not got back into the car when taking the road towards Montpellier. His phone in the car, the young teenager had no way to contact his parents. It is only thanks to social networks that the gendarmes were able to contact the parents. Finally, another case in 2015: a three-year-old girl was forgotten by her parents, on a rest area on the A7, in the Drôme. This time, the couple took more than 150 kilometers to realize that their daughter was not in the car, hearing an alert message on the radio! Surprised to see the young child alone on a playground and not seeing her parents return after an hour, a couple of vacationers then alerted the gendarmerie. On motorway service areas, keep an eye out!