This photograph of a child driving a vehicle was taken from a YouTube video. (YouTube)

A man who claims he's the Quebecer who posted a video on YouTube of his seven-year-old son driving the family SUV on a country road said he regrets the stunt but that his child was not in danger.

The man, identified as Sylvain, spoke by phone on Tuesday to a French language television network.

He said he never meant to provoke such a reaction, but noted that the driving was done in a safe and controlled environment, on a quiet country road and that there were no dangers on the road.

He said the video was taken two years ago and that he's willing to meet with police to explain his actions. Quebec provincial police said Monday they have opened an investigation.

In the video, the boy sits on the edge of the driver's seat, looking relaxed but alert as he grips the steering wheel and drives the vehicle.

His father sits in the passenger seat with the video camera and gives a running commentary, identifying the boy as Samuel from the North Shore.

Dad cheerfully notes as the speed approaches 40 km/h that "it's a little fast."

Observing that his son is calmly chewing gum as he drives, the father tells him to "smile for the camera," although the boy's mother, who sits in the back seat with a little girl on her lap, apparently tells the father not to distract the boy.

An older boy sits in the back seat beside the mother.

At one point the father says his son has hit 70 km/h. But the man insisted on Tuesday that he was just joking when he made that comment and that the vehicle never went over 40 km/h.

The video has since been removed from YouTube.

With files from The Canadian Press