Safety with E24|7: 'Tie' your kids up

A little over half of the population that undertook a road safety survey revealed they speed “for fun or to impress others”. At 53 per cent, that’s a percentage that’s worrying.

The other two top reasons why motorists in the UAE speed are “running late” at 67 per cent and “out of habit” at 45 per cent. RoadSafetyUAE and insurer Zurich had surveyed 1,005 motorists across the UAE.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Police have installed laws and penalties to stop speeding. Unfortunately, 15 per cent believe “they are unlikely to be caught” and 5 per cent claim “speeding fines are too low”. Statistics also show the speeding is one of the major factors that cause road fatalities.

While the authorities are working towards keeping the road safe, the buck stops at the motorists, who have the definitive responsibility.

Apart from the obvious (following basic traffic rules and road courtesy), it’s also important for parents to strap their children in age-appropriate car seats.

Even if isn’t yet a law in the UAE, car-seats goes a long way in reducing injuries and fatalities during road accidents.

A fact reiterated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which reports that wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of a fatality among front seat passengers by 40-50 per cent and among rear seat car occupants by 25-75 per cent.

According to the laws of physics, if a vehicle is travelling at 120km per hour, its contents and passengers are also moving at 120km per hour. A sudden stop or head-on collision at 120km per hour can mean the difference of life or death to the passengers wearing seatbelts. During a collision, passengers who are not buckled will fly toward the point of impact, colliding with anything in their path such as dashboards, windshield or steering wheels with several pounds of moving force.

Since children are smaller in size, the regular car-seats cannot restrict them during collision. Therefore it’s important to seat them in age-appropriate car-seats so that it reduces risk of injury.

While buckling up the kids are important, parents must also be aware that they must purchase the right car-seat for them.

Infants must be strapped in rear-facing car-seats designed specially for their height and weight. Most infant car-seats in the market cater to babies up to one-year-old, and weighs at least 13 kilos.

Toddlers, aged between one and four years, will need to be shifted into the next seat, that’s bigger and can accommodate weight up to 18 kilos and their height.

The booster seat is the next stage, for children aged between 4 and 6. The elevated seating is right for adult car seat belts, and also provides the children with a cushioned back. This would work for children until they reach a height of approximately 145cm.

Booster cushions are the final option for kids aged 6-11 years, and weighing between 22kg and 36kg.
 

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