Road Safety 2024: Many UAE motorists risk lives by shunning seatbelts

The National's summer road safety series takes an in-depth look each week at issues concerning the well-being of motorists and moves being made to protect road users

Seven years after seat belts were made mandatory in all vehicles in the UAE, drivers and passengers continue to put their lives at risk by flouting the law.

As part of The National’s summer-long road safety series, experts lamented the alarming ambivalence towards buckling up, while survey results showed child seats were underused.

In 2017, before the federal law regarding traffic control and mandatory seat belts in all vehicles was changed, almost a quarter of all drivers and passengers admitted to not using them.

Since then, safety experts said little had changed and that one in three parents did not own a child seat.

Black points

All vehicle occupants, regardless of age or seating position, must be properly secured with a seat belt while on UAE roads.

Failure to comply with the life-saving mandate can result in a fine of Dh400 ($108) for the driver and four black points on their licence.

Traffic cameras across the country can now spot those not wearing seat belts and impose penalties where appropriate.

“Wearing the seat belt at least will reduce the impact when the vehicle gets crushed,” said Dr Youssef Abboud, of the Fekeeh University Hospital trauma centre, who has been working in the field of emergency care for a decade.

“In most of the vehicles, the airbag and other safety measures will not be working when you don't put the seat belt on.

“This is a major mistake and the killer of drivers and other passengers.”

Last year, the UAE reported an 11 per cent increase in the number of road accidents from the previous year.

In 2022, there were 3,945 reported collisions and 343 deaths, compared to 4,391 accidents and 352 deaths in 2023.

A significant number of those deaths could have been avoided if those killed had worn seat belts, with figures from Abu Dhabi Police showing 60 per cent of road fatalities are due to them not being used.

A 120kph collision will deliver an impact equivalent to 100,521kg to the body of an average adult man. That is reduced to 20,104kg if a seat belt is worn.

For an average five-year-old, a crash at 50kph will deliver 4,424kg of impact without a seat belt. If the child is buckled up, this is reduced to 885kg.

Crush injuries delivered by force of impact are the most common cause of serious harm during a road traffic collision, doctors said.

“The impact will be much more severe without a seat belt because of movement in the crash, when a patient could be ejected from the vehicle, where they hit the front or the steering wheel,” said Dr Abboud.

“This causes immediate injuries to the head and spine, often causing paralysis.

“If the driver and passengers follow the safety measures, and they put the seat belt on, they have a much better chance of survival.

“The airbags will deploy, and prevent any other impact or trauma, reducing the acceleration and deceleration injuries.”

Child seats

UAE rules state all children aged up to four must be provided with a child safety seat, and only children aged 10 and above and taller than 145cm should sit in the front of a vehicle, next to the driver.

Safety regulations recommended by the UN suggest Isofix child restraint anchorage points for car safety seats should be a minimum requirement in all newly-manufactured passenger vehicles.

The UN also supports new car assessment programmes at a country or regional level to promote consumer awareness and push higher safety standards for all car occupants.

“The introduction of the holistic seat belt law in 2017 was a milestone, as it mandates the use of child seats for children aged up to four years,” said Irfan Porbanderwalla, chief executive in India, Middle East and Africa of Cybex, a German car seat manufacturer.

“However, analysing data of the parents’ behaviour shows little improvement with regards to child seat ownership and usage before and after the law’s introduction.”

Surveys of more than 1,000 respondents completed after the 2017 law, in 2018 and last year, revealed mixed attitudes towards buckling up.

Last year's survey found 23 per cent of parents believed holding children was safe, while 24 per cent said they chose not to use safety seats as their children didn’t like them.

More than a quarter of those polled said they did not use safety seats at all as they were unsure of which ones to buy.

Cybex has partnered with RoadSafetyUAE to educate parents on the importance of child seats.

“This is the single biggest opportunity we have in road safety,” said Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE.

“We need data about this issue on a federal level and ideally on a quarterly basis to constantly take stock of the development of this most critical dimension of road safety in the UAE.

“We would need strong, holistic, and ‘one-voice’ aligned awareness campaigns of all involved stakeholders.

“Enforcement should be stepped up and the element of enforcement by technology should play a vital role.”

Global issue

Road safety remains a global concern. The most recent World Health Organisation report on the subject last year showed traffic-related deaths fell slightly to 1.1 million a year – five per cent down from the figures reported in 2010.

Traffic deaths are the leading killer of those aged between five and 29, with seat belts a life-saving tool often neglected.

Since a camera detection system was implemented in Saudi Arabia in March 2018 to enforce the use of seat belts, the severity of road traffic injuries has declined significantly.

A study by Riyadh's King Abdulaziz Medical Trauma Centre found that deaths fell by 58 per cent.

Overall, the kingdom has seen a 35 per cent reduction in road crash deaths from 2016 to 2021, putting it on track to meet UN goals of a 50 per cent decline by 2030.

According to the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, wearing a seat belt in the front passenger seat limits the risk of moderate or fatal injury by half. The NHTSA said 15,000 lives are saved every year in the US by seat belts.

The US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention said that, while 90.1 per cent of Americans wear seat belts, 47 per cent of those dying in car accidents did not have them on.

Meanwhile in the UK, a 2023 government survey found 97.6 per cent of vehicle drivers and 95.2 per cent of front seat passengers wore a seat belt in England, with Scotland seeing figures of 96.4 per cent for drivers and 95.7 per cent for passengers.

That success has been attributed to national campaigns on the dangers of not belting up.

The latest road UK casualty statistics for 2022 showed 21 per cent of people who died in cars were not wearing a seat belt.

In March, a new UK campaign was launched to encourage seat belt use among young men. According to the UK’s road safety charity Think!, four young people aged 17 to 29 are either killed or seriously injured on the roads each week due to not wearing a seat belt.

Taxi and private hire companies, including Uber, are among those signed up to take part by encouraging passengers to wear seat belts during journeys.

At the campaign’s launch, UK motoring group the RAC’s road safety spokesman Rod Dennis said young men were most at risk from not wearing a seat belt.

“To most people, it’s second nature to wear a seat belt, but every time someone forgets to click theirs into place, they’re putting themselves and other passengers at risk,” he said.