UAE road safety officers push for child car seats

Safety advocates recounted on Wednesday a recent accident where a mother was killed while driving because she was distracted by her child, in the hopes that drivers will learn to strap in their kids.

The motorist was killed outside of Abu Dhabi on Tuesday afternoon when her car caught fire after hitting a road barrier. Preliminary investigations by Abu Dhabi police showed she was distracted by her child who was sitting in the front. The child survived but was injured.

“Driving is something that requires 100 percent attention,” Bernadette Bhacker, who runs a road safety awareness campaign in Oman called Salim and Salimah (Safe and Sound), told UAE newspaper The National.

“It is not something we can multitask on and it could have in a way been the same if she had been distracted by any other factor, like using a GSM or trying to drink coffee.”

There are no laws currently in the UAE requiring parents to properly restrain their kids, but police expect to have one by next year. However, it is illegal to let a child under the age of 10 ride in the front of a car according to the black points system. Offenders face a penalty of AED400 and four black points.

“The recent case emphasizes the need for introducing the regulation and also enforcing it,” Dr Mohammed el Sadig, an expert in safety promotion at Al Ain University, told The National.

Health Authority-Abu Dhabi promised to give out up to 4,500 baby car seats as part of a safety education campaign to start later this year.

According to the European Transport Safety Council, 83 percent of children who wear seat belts or sit in safety seats remain unharmed in crashes.

Driving is something that requires 100 percent attention

Bernadette Bhacker, Salim and Salimah