UAE | Traffic and Transport
Parents urged not to drive with children on their laps
Safety programme helps cuts infant deaths
- By Rayeesa Absal, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 January 31, 2012
- 13: infants were hurt in road accidents in 2011
- 20: infants were injured the previous year
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This is a common scenario. I get to see and keep a controlled silence, because, I wonder, what they think about their own safety, their child's safety, others who are in the car, and on the road at the same time with them. I really do not know. Women are not exemption. Last week, while driving on Shaikh Zayed Road, I watched with awe a woman, with a fully tinted four wheel drive speeding with her child on her lap (between the door and the seat) and even more, talking on the phone. God, save us, and reach us back home safe, that is the only prayer, I have, when I drive each time from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and back.
Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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I think this is a simple common sense thing that you must not sit with infants on laps on the front seats, even a child knows that front seats are only for adults. I have noticed many people sit on front carrying the babies, I mean what is this? your child's safety is in your hands only. You can fix a car seat on the back for the child. here you get good branded and easily fixable car seats available, which assures child safety. At the front seat siting with infants on their laps is NOT SAFE AT ALL. Safety Programme by the authorities is a great move. Parents are responsible for the safety and protection of their kids.
Ms. Renu kala, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai: Traffic officials have warned parents against driving with infants on their laps, as they are risking their child's life by doing so, engineer Maitha Obaid Bin Udai, CEO of the Traffic and Roads Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said yesterday.
As many as 13 infants were injured in traffic accidents last year, but the number has dropped considerably as compared to the year before.
Two fatalities
According to traffic accident statistics of 2011, a 35 per cent drop in the number of infants (between the age of 0 to 2) injured in accidents was recorded.
While 20 infants were injured in traffic accidents in 2010, the number dropped to 13 in 2011, she said. Two infant fatalities were recorded in 2010 as well as in 2011.
RTA credited the drop in injuries to a Child Safety Programme, launched at Latifa Hospital and Dubai Hospital in 2009. Over 1,000 mothers are members of the programme.
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