An Abbotsford baby is lucky to be alive and uninjured after it was involved in a crash of a runaway car on Sunday morning, say police.

A father strapped his 10-month-old son into his car seat before getting into the driver's seat and starting his vehicle at a home in east Abbotsford on Sunday morning, said Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald.

However, the father then left the car running and the infant in the car while he dashed into the house to retrieve some forgotten sunglasses.

"When he comes back out, he sees his Japanese sedan has rolled down the driveway, across two lanes of traffic and slammed into a legally parked Toyota SUV across the street," said MacDonald.

An Abbotsford patrol officer happened to be passing the scene as people, including the worried father, were clustering around the two crumpled cars at 10:45 a.m., said MacDonald.

Luckily, the baby who was properly strapped into his car seat didn't appear to be injured despite the significant damage to the two vehicles involved in the crash, said MacDonald.

Though the child wasn't sent to hospital, it's expected he'll be going for a check up with his family doctor.

"The parent felt awful obviously," said MacDonald, adding the circumstances could have much worse.

"I'm sure the parents are quite relieved the baby wasn't injured, but can you image if a vehicle had been travelling along that road?" asked MacDonald.

"We could have had a T-bone crash, and a T-bone would have been nasty for that child."

What's more, leaving an infant in a running car with keys in the ignition is an invitation for both car and child to be abducted by a thief, he said.

"Road safety starts in your driveway," said MacDonald, noting people shouldn't try to save time by leaving keys or kids in unattended cars.

There's no doubt the baby's father will be making different decisions in the future, MacDonald observed.

"Leaving a vehicle insecure and running with your most precious valuable in the back seat. . . most people would think of that as a mistake," he said.

The police officer on scene issued the father a violation ticket, said MacDonald.