ABU DHABI // More than three quarters of parents or guardians in Sharjah and Dubai are not restraining children in a car seat, an observational study reveals.
More than 200 checks were carried out to look at children under the age of five in malls, nurseries and other places in the two emirates
Results showed that 76.7 per cent of the time, parents and guardians were not using a child restraint whether it be a booster seat or a child seat.
Of the 161 checks carried out in Sharjah, only 30 – or 18.63 per cent – were using child restraint systems. In Dubai, the percentage of car-seat use was higher – at 40 per cent – among 18 of the 45 parents or guardians observed.
“This shows that extra effort is needed to raise awareness on the importance of using child car restraints [CRS] and enforcing it,” the study says.
“The positive side of CRS usage in Dubai being more than double that of Sharjah is that raising CRS usage is definitely doable for the whole of the UAE.”
The study was carried out from November last year to April this year by University of Sharjah’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. It looked at the rate of child restraint systems of children under the age of five in moving vehicles in the UAE, and to assess parents’ perceptions and knowledge of the issue.
In the first stage, a roadside observational study was conducted to find out the use of child restraints by parents or guardians in real life. The second stage involved a survey distributed to a sample of parents and guardians to analyse their perceptions and awareness of the use of child restraints.
Female drivers take more care to restrain their children than male drivers, the survey shows.
A total of 365 questionnaires were distributed across the Emirates. Respondents were parents or guardians of children under the age of five who drove a motor vehicle a few times a week with the children.
Female drivers believed in the importance of restraining children more than male drivers.
Eighty-one female respondents, as opposed to 64 males believed that child restraints always reduced road-traffic injuries.
In terms of nationality, 90 per cent of Europeans, 69.4 per cent of Arabs and 40.5 per cent of South and East Asians said they always restrained their children.
The results were to be treated as indicators that were based on a limited sample size and cannot be generalised for the whole UAE or the individual countries themselves.
“The cost of car seats in the UAE is relatively low compared with most western countries,” said Dr Salaheddine Bendak, associate professor at University of Sharjah.
“The percentage of deaths of children under the age of seven among all traffic accident fatalities in UAE is estimated to be four to 10 times more than that in developed countries. Urgent action by all government, municipalities, parents, media outlets and companies is needed to curb these accidents.”
The study recommended making the installation and use of child restraint systems mandatory. Traffic police should also do random checks on drivers to ensure and enforce compliance with these laws.
Other proposals included carrying out more research and funding education on the role of child restraints in saving lives and preventing injuries to children, and more public awareness campaigns to educate about the risks of carrying children in vehicles unrestrained.
rruiz@thenational.ae
