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Motorists, residents praise seatbelt law

Abu Dhabi - First-Lieutenant Ali H. Al Madfaei of the Abu Dhabi Police said the new law will help save lives on UAE roads.

Emiratis and expats expressed their support for proposed amendments to the traffic laws, particularly the upcoming mandatory rule for all drivers and passengers to simply, buckle-up.
Under the new regulations, which will come into force in three months, those failing to wear their seatbelt and fail to ensure children aged four and younger are seated in the appropriate child-seat, will receive a fine of Dh400, and four black points.
First-Lieutenant Ali H. Al Madfaei of the Abu Dhabi Police said the new law will help save lives on UAE roads. "The recent amendments will increase parental awareness in regards to child safety in vehicles.
"I am personally looking forward to corrective actions being taken against negligent parents, who unfortunately have little regards to the safety of their children and the law."
First-Lieutenant Al Madfaei pointed out that buckling up the seatbelt should become a habit for all drivers and passengers - as soon they enter their vehicles.
"Being a huge motorsport enthusiast, I have an understanding of how the safety components of a car work. The seatbelt is a fundamental necessity that the other systems depend on, to fully deploy and activate the subsequent safety systems, in case of a collision."
Residents speak
US expat and father of two, Mohamad Al Mashaat, residing in Abu Dhabi, also praised the new amendments. "It is really frustrating to see kids not seated on their safety-seats or sitting on other passengers' laps inside vehicles," said the father of two, aged two and four.
He noted that parents neglecting the safety of their children should not get-off lightly, and need to face consequences, in order to further raise awareness. "I think once the new law is enforced, it will help educate parents when it comes to protecting their children on the roads, and diminish social norms relating to the lack of seatbelt usage."
Zainab Al Adhami, a 30-year-old UAE resident, who commutes almost daily from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, hailed the new law.
"Too many injuries happened and lives have been lost on roads around the world, which could have been avoided if passengers remembered to buckle-up. "The rule will help decrease the number of deaths caused to children, simply because parents didn't bother to strap them up."
Khalifa Al Fahim, a 30-year-old Emirati, said he also supports the government's decision to introduce new traffic rules.
"Seatbelts have been proven in saving lives. It only takes a split second for cars to collide and cause severe injuries, or even death."
He noted that wearing his seatbelt has saved him from receiving greater injuries during a recent car collision. "Many motorists take the use of the seatbelt for granted and only come to appreciate it when they witness a tragic accident."
Enforcement has to be stringent: Expert
"This is one of the most wonderful news we have had in a long time with regards to improving road safety in the UAE, especially on the back of the news that in 2016, traffic fatalities increased to 725 in the UAE, up from 675 in 2015," Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE, told Khaleej Times.
"The introduction and stringent enforcement of the holistic seat belt law has long been lobbied for in the UAE and it is the single most important ingredient to lower the number of fatalities on our roads," he added.
Edelmann noted that accidents happen all over the world, even in the most advanced countries.
"But the single most important device to save our lives and to protect us from injuries in car accidents are seatbelts - they can save lives in 45-60 per cent of accidents, depending on the kind of impact (frontal, side, behind, etc.) and the type of passenger (children or adults)," he said.
"We applaud the UAE Government for this step. It is the lowest hanging fruit to achieve the ambitious targets of the 'UAE vision 2021' to lower the road traffic fatalities from about 6/100,000 inhabitants to 3/100,000," Edelmann underlined.
"However, the introduction of the rule is only the first step. Now, the enforcement has to be stringent and holistic. In parallel, strong educational initiatives from all concerned stakeholders must accompany this wonderful development: the media is invited to pick up on this new decree on an ongoing basis; governmental entities are invited to run educational campaigns; the education sector has to cascade the content of the decree to all their audiences (teachers, parents, students of all ages; and corporations should launch safety initiatives," he concluded.
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com