DUBAI // A road-safety expert has again called on parents to buckle up their children while driving in an attempt to reverse the trend of child deaths in traffic accidents.
Thomas Edelmann, founder of the website roadsafetyuae.com, said it is common sense that everyone should wear a seat belt in the UAE.
“Road traffic-related incidents are the number one killers of children under the age of 14 in the UAE,” said Mr Edelmann.
“Sixty-five per cent of injuries happening to children younger than 14 are related to road accidents.”
He said the law stated that children under the age of 12 were not allowed to ride in the front seat of the car and that passengers in the front seat must wear their seat belts. Yet that was not always the case.
According to Mr Edelmann, wearing a seat belt was the cheapest form of insurance.
“It’s free and every car has seat belts.
“People should buckle up whether they’re in the front or back seats,” he said, adding: “Seat belts, irrespective of one’s age, improve a person’s chances of survival by 40 to 60 per cent in a fatal accident.”
Police recorded 8,547 cases of people not wearing seat belts in January and February this year.
Rhia Sanshez, 29, a personal trainer and mother, said she regularly saw people with children riding in the front seat.
“I always notice people sitting in the front seat with their children on their laps. I am on Jumeirah Road almost every day, and every day there are children on the laps of their mothers riding in the passenger seat while someone else drives the car,” she said.
“My son is almost three years old. He is always in the car seat in the back, especially if we’re going on a long trip. You never know what will happen on the road.”
Ms Sanshez, however, said she did sometimes allow her son to sit in the back seat unbuckled.
“I live in Discovery Gardens and, on a few occasions, when I’m going to Ibn Battuta Mall, which is very close to my home, I would allow my son to sit normally in the back, but only if my mother-in-law was in the back with him.”
Sara Abdallah and Rebecca Kanaan, both 23, said they always wore their seat belts. “I always wear my seat belt even if it’s to a nearby destination. However, as soon as I enter a parking lot of a mall, for example, I take it off. I think it’s just a habit,” said Ms Abdallah.
Ms Kanaan said she has had a number of parking offences and speeding tickets.
“I wear my seat belt whether I’m going to a nearby market or a farther destination. However, I have been driving in the UAE for about five months and, so far, I have five parking tickets and two speeding tickets,” she said.
“I don’t usually speed, but it just so happened that I was going a little over the speed limit on Al Khail Road, and both times I got caught by mobile radars.”
Traffic police chief Col Saif Al Mazroui has said that speeding remained the leading cause of fatal traffic accidents.
His officers recorded 494,760 offences in just the first two months of this year, 308,690 of them for speeding.
“I am surprised despite the continuous awareness campaigns and warnings about the dangers of speeding,” Col Al Mazroui said.
“The campaigns that Dubai Police organises are not just limited to raising the awareness of the drivers but also apply to the patrols charged with monitoring the speed of vehicles and offences, especially those that affect public safety.”
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae