ABU DHABI // An initiative that promotes seat belt and child car seat use has reached out to about 16,000 students and parents in the past school year.
Lesley Cully, founder of the Buckle Up in the Back campaign, visits nurseries to get the message to parents through their children.
She explains how parents take care of eggs yet fail to buckle up their children. She then discusses height and measures children against a chart to show them who needs a car seat and why.
“I ask all parents to think of their children as an egg,” Ms Cully said. “Most people wouldn’t put a box of eggs in their car without care because they know it would smash easily, yet they put their most precious cargo, their children, in the back without any thought.”
Older students and corporate executives who attend her safety lecture are shown graphic accident footage. Topics discussed are speed and the science of how seat belts protect people.
“Many parents think their child can stop using a car seat when they are about four years old,” she said.
“What they need to understand is that a seat belt in the back of a car is designed for an adult. This means a small child will have a seat belt fitting across the neck, which encourages the child to put the belt under the arm or behind their back, which is incredibly dangerous.”
Seat belt and car seat use among children increased by 12.6 per cent after the Buckle Up presentation, a recent exit survey revealed.
“An overall 78.8 per cent of respondents said a school presentation influences their decision whether to use a seat belt,” said Ms Cully, who set up Buckle Up in the Back. “Since the campaign started in 2010, I have presented to just under 60,000 people.”
Not enough attention is given to buckling up in the back, especially for children.
“Studies have shown that 63 per cent of all child deaths in the UAE are a result of a car incident,” she said.
In an attempt to reverse this alarming trend, Buckle Up in the Back has been advocating laws requiring back-seat passengers to buckle up and making child car seats mandatory.
“We have been saying this for more than four years now: introduce the rear seat belt and child car seat law, enforce the law regularly and consistently, and educate people on the law so people understand why,” she said.
Last March Buckle Up introduced an initiative that showed outcomes of road accidents – life in a wheelchair, living with epilepsy, and the daily struggle of a colostomy-bag user – all consequences that could have been avoided if the victim had been wearing a seat belt.
The advertisements, with the tagline “If you don’t wear a seat belt you’re going to need all the help you can get”, will appear in taxis and hire cars.
“These have been designed to make passengers, particularly in taxis, to stop and think about the possible consequences of not wearing a seat belt,” Ms Cully said. “I hope to roll out in September, starting with Dubai with a view to spreading it to the other emirates as soon as possible.”
Harder-hitting images in the cinema, radio ads, police patrols with larger fines, and more campaigning and publicity on the use of rear seat belts and child car seat laws are needed, she said.
“Buckle Up in the Back is not a six-week and six-month campaign,” she said. “It’s all year round and works hard to promote the importance of wearing a seat belt and using an age-appropriate car seat.”
rruiz@thenational.ae
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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