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Focus: Child car safety

Should there be a fine for not buckling up children in the backseat of cars? Join the Gulf News debate on whether fines are the only way to modify people’s behaviour.

  • Gulf News
  • Published: 11:29 October 19, 2012

  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archives
  • The car safety campaign is aimed at encouraging parents to buckle up their children in child car seats while driving.

How often have you seen children in a car playing in the backseat, dangling out of windows or simply not buckled up? Despite several awareness campaigns on the problem, UAE residents fail to ensure their children are safely sitting in the backseat of cars. And this failure to comply with basic safety practices has a very real impact - 63 per cent of deaths among children 14-years-old and younger in the UAE die in traffic accidents. What is the solution? Join the debate this week, where the following statements will be debated:

  • Should there be a fine for not buckling up children in the backseat? Do fines really work?
  • Why do people not buckle up children while driving? Is it a lack of education or do people just not comprehend the danger?

Comments (5)

  1. Added 11:44 December 22, 2012

    I agree to the safety of children and i suggest to put a fine if childrens are dangling through windows or playing in the backseat without having seatbelt or any other safety. Childrens are the future of the nations, we have to protect them.

    Sharmaine Mumtaz, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 08:37 October 25, 2012

    U.A.E. is a country where people from different parts of the world come to live in harmony.In several countries like India ,it is not compulsory to have a child seat ,and it is not mandatory for the backseaters in a vehicle to wear a seat belt.So people coming from these places are not used to these and so it is difficult to make the kids get used to the seat belt. Some parents cannot control their kids and feel that it is better to leave them to their will ,than make them cry.So the kids stand on the seats and have fun.The kids are unaware of the danger involved ,but it is the duty of the parent to be strict and make the child wear the seatbelt .My Dad is very particular that he starts the car only if I wear the seatbelt.I hope all parents do the same ,out of love for their kids and not because they don't want to be fined.They should be more concerned about losing their kid and not losing their money ,when they are fined.

    ASHIK SIJU, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

  3. Added 12:19 October 23, 2012

    It should a suspension of driving license for a year or more, because being a parent and a driver knows what are the consequencies that might happen to the kids without safetybelt once the accident happens. It is not the reason of lack of education, sorry to say but it is irresponsibility not to buckle up the kids.

    Hulyo, DXB, United Arab Emirates

  4. Added 12:12 October 21, 2012

    Yes indeed it is important to buckle up children when they sit in the back seat. There is a lot of accidents happening with children who are allowed to play carelessly in the back seat. This is an utter negligence from the side of parents. Always 'prevention is better than the cure'. This kind of inattention cannot be tolerated and just imposing a fine will not help to understand the gravity of the mistake. So, the people who give a deaf ear should be handled stringently. Children, as we know, will play whenever they get an opportunity. It is the elders who should make them understand and intimidate them about this wrong doing. We see every now and then children putting their face and hands out through the window and the parents not even bothered to see what is happening in the back. Only solution is to boost awareness campaigns and stern action against the violators.

    Shivshankar K.T., Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  5. Added 16:38 October 20, 2012

    Yes, it's really dangerous if small children are not properly buckled up in the back seat or front seat or if they are leaning out of open windows. But I dont think putting fines on each an very issue will bring necessary changes. People think its very small thing to be concerned off, but what if our such a small act changes our life forever and we lose any of our loved ones forever? what we might do then? I think educating people of the consequences of their act will help them to improve. And fining is not a solution of everything, the need is to provide awareness among people.

    Sadaf Majeed, fujairah, United Arab Emirates

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