ABU DHABI // Two in five drivers, and even more front-seat passengers, flout the law by refusing to wear a seat belt.
Few drivers take the penalty for not buckling up – a Dh400 fine and four black points – seriously but nearly 80 per cent would do so if it was harsher, a survey has found.
The study found only 61 per cent of drivers and 43.4 per cent of front-seat passengers wore seat belts.
Dr Salaheddin Bendak, an author of the study, said efforts to lift rates must be continued and a law requiring rear-seat passengers to wear them should also be introduced.
But Dr Bendak, an associate professor at the department of industrial engineering at the University of Sharjah, said the rates were encouraging when compared with other countries in the region.
The seat-belt wearing rate in Kuwait is 57.5 per cent for drivers; in Saudi Arabia 27.8 per cent for drivers and 14.7 per cent for front-seat passengers; and in Lebanon 12 per cent for drivers and 7 per cent for front-seat passengers.
“However, more efforts are needed in this area to try to raise seat-belt wearing rates to more than 90 per cent within a few years’ time for drivers and front-seat passengers,” Dr Bendak said.
“Authorities are also encouraged to consider introducing a seat-belt law for rear-seat passengers.”
The highest seat-belt wearing rates were recorded in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. They were 77.3 per cent for drivers and 60.7 per cent for passengers in Abu Dhabi, and 80.9 per cent for drivers and 57.3 per cent for passengers in Dubai.
The lowest wearing rates were in the smallest emirate, Umm Al Quwain: 36.7 per cent for drivers and 24.2 for front-seat passengers.
“If we had a 100 per cent wearing rate, it would be the largest contributor to the downward trend in injuries and fatalities in the UAE,” said Craig Sherrin, chief executive of Emirates Driving Company.
“At EDC, our theoretical and practical training strongly emphasises the wearing of seat belts and the consequences when you’re not wearing one. Even a low-speed crash incurs significant injuries.”
Would-be drivers are also taught the advantages of providing child-safety seats and keeping children fastened safely in the back seat, Mr Sherrin said.
Dr Bendak, who specialises in road and occupational safety, said public awareness campaigns were more evident and police presence and enforcement of traffic laws were more intensive in larger emirates.
“There’s also the psychological aspect,” he said. “In a small town, one would probably say ‘I don’t need to wear a seat belt as there aren’t many cars around me and the probability of having a traffic accident is lower than crowded streets’.”
His study, carried out between February and April 2011, looked at 5,600 cars across the country.
It investigated perceptions and behaviour of drivers, and the human factors that affect the wearing rate, through a randomly distributed questionnaire to 600 respondents aged 18 to 67. It looked at how people responded to law enforcement.
“Enforcement and awareness are the keys to success to any road safety campaign,” said Dr Bendak.
The questionnaire found 78 per cent feared being penalised for not wearing belts, while 25.5 per cent reported not having enough knowledge of their importance.
Seatbelt Utilisation and Awareness in the UAE, has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, and is available online.
rruiz@thenational.ae
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
