Shocking story, but what really disturbs me is the last sentence...

The worst culprits are the flipping expats from countries where it is illegal not to do so, horse to water and all that.

Silly me. I ought to have put 'compulsory' in my sentence. Apologies, because that is what I meant.

It does make me angry, mb, but certainly I agree that the message must be pushed as much as possible and that anger doesn't exactly solve the problem. When I think back to the resistance from even so-called 'educated' nations [UK, anyone?!'> to introducing compulsory seat belt legislation, perhaps I should be more accommodating to the idiosyncrasies of a 'new' nation like the UAE, but the reluctance here does sting. Coming from the nation which introduced seat belts in the first place, well before anyone else, and well before I was born [!!'>, to see such ignorance and inaction is heartbreaking. But I do take what you say on board. And I will endeavour to pass on RL's leaflets to less-observant drivers [so long as I am not endangering anyone while doing it!'>. :D It was the American manufacturers (Nash and Ford) who introduced seatbelts to the world. Australia was the first the make the wearing of them LAW.

It does make me angry, mb, but certainly I agree that the message must be pushed as much as possible and that anger doesn't exactly solve the problem. When I think back to the resistance from even so-called 'educated' nations [UK, anyone?!'> to introducing compulsory seat belt legislation, perhaps I should be more accommodating to the idiosyncrasies of a 'new' nation like the UAE, but the reluctance here does sting. Coming from the nation which introduced seat belts in the first place, well before anyone else, and well before I was born [!!'>, to see such ignorance and inaction is heartbreaking. But I do take what you say on board. And I will endeavour to pass on RL's leaflets to less-observant drivers [so long as I am not endangering anyone while doing it!'>. :D Why should expats enforce and push their views of how things should be on a local population? Is that not what most locals are fed up with? Leave em be. Because every time someone -- I baulk at the tag of 'local' in this instance because it could be anyone -- does not observe the rules of the road, including that of restraining their children, then we are ALL in danger [see my post below'>. It takes a village [and all that'>. I don't want to get into the why's and wherefore's of expats coming in and telling the locals how to run their lives but let's face it: as Tallybalt points out below, they're happy enough to bleed us dry of knowledge in building the tallest this and the biggest that; why on earth can't they accept good sense as well? :(

Value of life? The Lord giveth ... and the Lord taketh away. Inshallah and all that. ;)

It does make me angry, mb, but certainly I agree that the message must be pushed as much as possible and that anger doesn't exactly solve the problem. When I think back to the resistance from even so-called 'educated' nations [UK, anyone?!'> to introducing compulsory seat belt legislation, perhaps I should be more accommodating to the idiosyncrasies of a 'new' nation like the UAE, but the reluctance here does sting. Coming from the nation which introduced seat belts in the first place, well before anyone else, and well before I was born [!!'>, to see such ignorance and inaction is heartbreaking. But I do take what you say on board. And I will endeavour to pass on RL's leaflets to less-observant drivers [so long as I am not endangering anyone while doing it!'>. :D Why should expats enforce and push their views of how things should be on a local population? Is that not what most locals are fed up with? Leave em be.

Value of life?

It does make me angry, mb, but certainly I agree that the message must be pushed as much as possible and that anger doesn't exactly solve the problem. When I think back to the resistance from even so-called 'educated' nations [UK, anyone?!'> to introducing compulsory seat belt legislation, perhaps I should be more accommodating to the idiosyncrasies of a 'new' nation like the UAE, but the reluctance here does sting. Coming from the nation which introduced seat belts in the first place, well before anyone else, and well before I was born [!!'>, to see such ignorance and inaction is heartbreaking. But I do take what you say on board. And I will endeavour to pass on RL's leaflets to less-observant drivers [so long as I am not endangering anyone while doing it!'>. :D

A lack of awareness? This country has no problems importing highly paid consultants by the tens of thousands to advise them how to do everything, western style. Buid a city overnight? No problem. Build a successful metro line in a few years? No problem. But when it comes to safety and road awareness, so many locals just somehow just cannot connect the dots between a child loose in a car and a child flying through the windshield in a crash? It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out, especially as this does happen often in Dubai. The west learned about road safety and seatbelts the hard way because we had no one to tell us, but that's not the case with the UAE. It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! It's nothing to do with being a) selfish or b) idiots. It's to do with lack of awareness and education. People seem to forget that in all western countries, there has been over 40 years of hard hitting educational campaigns with regard to car safety and seatbelts. This is only in its infancy here. So before you call someone selfish idiots perhaps look at the whole situation first.

Totally agree with Waxmuch. A while back, I was at the t lights in Festival City where you turn left to IKEA and the guy on my right was driving his car with his toddler daughter on his knee "learning how to drive" and just for good measure he was on the phone!!!!! There was a great ad in the UK which showed how even at slow speeds an unrestrained child in the back can become a lethal weapon to anyone in the front in a collision - we're talking no more than 50kph for it to be fatal for both parties. The difference in education for the UAE is that when all the campaigns started in the UK and other countries, it was new - there was no awareness anywhere - the UAE does not have that excuse. The dangers of driving without ALL passengers being buckled up have been known for years. The irony is that people don't restrain kids because they think it is cruel to stop the little darlings moving around. Not half so cruel and dreadful as what they might suffer in an accident.

As long as the muppets don't kill me i really couldn't give two hoots, if you can afford the cars they are driving you can afford a car seat.

I was horrifed to see the same thing (albeit not at 100 mph) in the Green Community Motor City but instead of the child hanging out the window, they were stood up, with their head out the sunroof. I was shocked and that, even a little jerk with a child that young could lead to serious internal injuries. Honest to God, this isn't about education in some instances b/c no one in their right mind would think thats safe. Its common sense. I saw a lady last week DRIVING in AD with a young baby on her shoulder. I have also seen 2 cars racing with each other and going over speed bumps at high speed, much to the delight of the children, who were standing on the drivers arm rest hanging out the sunroof.

I have seen an advert on the TV in relation to 'buckling up in the UAE'. The advert will have no effect what so ever, though it is a start. The UK started a hard hitting graphic campaign a few years back, and I am sure that it made some dramatic effect to the people who saw it,. Ensuring that you buckled up and drove at the right speeds in the right areas! This kind of advertising/marketing needs to be launched here if the UAE expects to have 0% road fatalities by 2020!

Or even, as we saw mention of in the initial post ... a child could be thrown from a car, another driver could accidentally run over that child ... and guess whose fault the incident becomes? The completely innocent driver who had no idea that run-over-child was on their menu for the day. Sorry, but I do not believe that what goes on in other people's cars is none of my business, especially as it affects MY safe conduct and enjoyment of the roads. If they are breaking the rules, then they could affect me too. Completely agree Waxmuch! <em>edited by guinness on 15/03/2011</em>

American Hospital is giving out free infant seats this month to every new born! Also because of Car safety Month.

This is a prime example of how utterly backward Dubai really is. This is ignorance in it's truest form.

FYI my DD's nursery is promoting Drive Safely Week, we have been given posters and stickers with the slogan 'Buckle up in the back' the information given is all about child safety and the dangers of not wearing seat belts. So some people are trying. Edited to add look/join/like the facebook page - Buckle up in the back Dubai! <em>edited by Jussie on 15/03/2011</em>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ-xOplVUyc&feature=related

I was horrifed to see the same thing (albeit not at 100 mph) in the Green Community Motor City but instead of the child hanging out the window, they were stood up, with their head out the sunroof. I was shocked and that, even a little jerk with a child that young could lead to serious internal injuries. Honest to God, this isn't about education in some instances b/c no one in their right mind would think thats safe. Its common sense.

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! It's nothing to do with being a) selfish or b) idiots. It's to do with lack of awareness and education. People seem to forget that in all western countries, there has been over 40 years of hard hitting educational campaigns with regard to car safety and seatbelts. This is only in its infancy here. So before you call someone selfish idiots perhaps look at the whole situation first. Izzy, sadly that still doesn't excuse the blatant lack of er common sense! For a parent to willingly put the most precious thing to them in harms way is inexcusable.

I don't understand why people get so upset that [b'>other[/b'> people don't restrain their children in cars. Yes, it is wrong and shocking that the parents don't/can't understand the dangers - it's really not down to education but plain old common sense - but its how they wish to conduct their lives at the end of the day. Children wandering around malls at goodness knows what hour, I think is wrong. However some people think that's perfectly acceptable. I saw two little girls with their parents last night at MOE, walking around eating potato chips and drinking sodas, it must have been nearly 9pm. Again, I don't agree. Going back to the car issue, all I'm concerned about is as long as MY children are safe in the car, I'm not worried what others are doing. edited by Pomegranate on 15/03/2011 I don't give a flying fig whether parents are feeding crisps and soft drinks to their children at some ungodly hour of the night; after all, it's the PARENTS who will be paying for those actions, given that the children will be sugar-loaded, have a propensity to weight gain, be sleep-deprived and possibly have a lack of discipline in the future. Nothing to do with me. :D HOWEVER ... the issue of children which are unrestrained in cars is more far-reaching than merely [?!?'> the death of a child. What I see when I see children bouncing around either the back or front seats of a car is an accident waiting to happen; an accident that could well involve ME or my friends or in fact, any other completely innocent driver on the road because of THEIR selfishness. A short stop, an accidental 'brake' situation, a driver who is DISTRACTED by the actions of the children in the car ... each of these could lead to other drivers being unwittingly dragged into a major incident, where lives -- those other than the ones in the offending car -- could be lost. Or even, as we saw mention of in the initial post ... a child could be thrown from a car, another driver could accidentally run over that child ... and guess whose fault the incident becomes? The completely innocent driver who had no idea that run-over-child was on their menu for the day. Sorry, but I do not believe that what goes on in other people's cars is none of my business, especially as it affects MY safe conduct and enjoyment of the roads. If they are breaking the rules, then they could affect me too.

Once, I was coming down Jabel Hafeet mountain in Al Ain and the 2nd car in front of us just opened the dor and a small child fell out. Thanks God everyone was in a very low speed and was easy to stop the lane of cars otherwise a big fatality could have happend.

I don't understand why people get so upset that [b'>other[/b'> people don't restrain their children in cars. Yes, it is wrong and shocking that the parents don't/can't understand the dangers - it's really not down to education but plain old common sense - but its how they wish to conduct their lives at the end of the day. Children wandering around malls at goodness knows what hour, I think is wrong. However some people think that's perfectly acceptable. I saw two little girls with their parents last night at MOE, walking around eating potato chips and drinking sodas, it must have been nearly 9pm. Again, I don't agree. Going back to the car issue, all I'm concerned about is as long as MY children are safe in the car, I'm not worried what others are doing. <em>edited by Pomegranate on 15/03/2011</em>

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! It's nothing to do with being a) selfish or b) idiots. It's to do with lack of awareness and education. People seem to forget that in all western countries, there has been over 40 years of hard hitting educational campaigns with regard to car safety and seatbelts. This is only in its infancy here. So before you call someone selfish idiots perhaps look at the whole situation first. When cars first started appearing on UAE roads, it is fair to say that there weren't that many of them. The roads, however, were being constructed to international standards -- they were, after all, being mostly built by British sub-contractors -- and the cars that were being driven on these roads, were also 'international' cars, not horses and carts. In the [over'> 40 years since the big push in a great many nations for greater road safety and awareness of things like wearing seatbelts, the UAE has not been in a bubble. It has been travelling, at a slower pace, mind, but travelling at the same rate in terms of car safety [including seatbelts being included as a standard in said cars'> and standardisation of road rules and signage. Certainly, one could argue that there has been a slow uptake of awareness of said rules, but it is disingenuous to state that road rules and safety are in their 'infancy' here. It is more to do with the undeniable fact that many drivers on our roads come from countries where there is NOT a system in place to educate and inform, and where perhaps there is the underlying feeling that should an accident or incident occur on a road out here, that it is less to do with the fault of the driver and more to do with an act of fate. 'Inshallah' has an incredible influence on the way people approach and live their lives, even on roads where the actions of other drivers will have more - no pun intended - [i'>impact[/i'> on their lives. Moreover, I was taught to drive being told that every other driver out there was a [potential'> idiot. That I ought to watch my own actions in relation to the actions of everyone else on the road. I sometimes feel that there are many drivers here, not just locals, but drivers from a number of different nations, who actually do not behave as if they are one of a number of drivers on the road; they behave as if they are by themselves, answerable only to their OWN actions, and the road fatalities statistics certainly bear this out. I could go on for ages about this [but you already know I rabbit on too much as a 'rule'!'> but I do think that the time for forgiveness, for leeway, for 'understanding' about a slow-learning nation with respect to its road safety approach is OVER. Time to join the 21st century people. Because if you don't, you'll have a lot more dead bodies on your hands. Seriously. Agree, there is no excuse. It is selfish and they are arrogant. sorry, but how else do you explain this answer when I dare asked a driver to slow down as he is in a residential street "If you don't like it, get out of my country. I will drive however the F*&* I want."...yeah...nice huh.

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! It's nothing to do with being a) selfish or b) idiots. It's to do with lack of awareness and education. People seem to forget that in all western countries, there has been over 40 years of hard hitting educational campaigns with regard to car safety and seatbelts. This is only in its infancy here. So before you call someone selfish idiots perhaps look at the whole situation first. When cars first started appearing on UAE roads, it is fair to say that there weren't that many of them. The roads, however, were being constructed to international standards -- they were, after all, being mostly built by British sub-contractors -- and the cars that were being driven on these roads, were also 'international' cars, not horses and carts. In the [over'> 40 years since the big push in a great many nations for greater road safety and awareness of things like wearing seatbelts, the UAE has not been in a bubble. It has been travelling, at a slower pace, mind, but travelling at the same rate in terms of car safety [including seatbelts being included as a standard in said cars'> and standardisation of road rules and signage. Certainly, one could argue that there has been a slow uptake of awareness of said rules, but it is disingenuous to state that road rules and safety are in their 'infancy' here. It is more to do with the undeniable fact that many drivers on our roads come from countries where there is NOT a system in place to educate and inform, and where perhaps there is the underlying feeling that should an accident or incident occur on a road out here, that it is less to do with the fault of the driver and more to do with an act of fate. 'Inshallah' has an incredible influence on the way people approach and live their lives, even on roads where the actions of other drivers will have more - no pun intended - [i'>impact[/i'> on their lives. Moreover, I was taught to drive being told that every other driver out there was a [potential'> idiot. That I ought to watch my own actions in relation to the actions of everyone else on the road. I sometimes feel that there are many drivers here, not just locals, but drivers from a number of different nations, who actually do not behave as if they are one of a number of drivers on the road; they behave as if they are by themselves, answerable only to their OWN actions, and the road fatalities statistics certainly bear this out. I could go on for ages about this [but you already know I rabbit on too much as a 'rule'!'> but I do think that the time for forgiveness, for leeway, for 'understanding' about a slow-learning nation with respect to its road safety approach is OVER. Time to join the 21st century people. Because if you don't, you'll have a lot more dead bodies on your hands. Seriously.

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! It's nothing to do with being a) selfish or b) idiots. It's to do with lack of awareness and education. People seem to forget that in all western countries, there has been over 40 years of hard hitting educational campaigns with regard to car safety and seatbelts. This is only in its infancy here. So before you call someone selfish idiots perhaps look at the whole situation first. I'm well aware of that thank you. I do think over the past few years here there has been enough press coverage on the issue for people to understand that it's wrong. If they chose to ignore the dangers then in my eyes they are a) selfish and b) idiots. A large campaign would definitely help everyone realise just how affective a child seat can be. Fingers crossed

THere needs to be those awful videos on all main tv channels here that show those crash situations like they used to in europe about 30 years ago. they really make you buckle up.

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! And equally as frightening, the people who are buckled up in front but whose front-seat passenger dandles their baby on their lap. There's a reason these cherubs are described, sickeningly, as 'baby airbags'. :(

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! It's nothing to do with being a) selfish or b) idiots. It's to do with lack of awareness and education. People seem to forget that in all western countries, there has been over 40 years of hard hitting educational campaigns with regard to car safety and seatbelts. This is only in its infancy here. So before you call someone selfish idiots perhaps look at the whole situation first.

It makes me really angry when i see kids running wild in moving cars, especially when mum & dad are buckled up in the front! Selfish idiots! I wish the government would run a huge campaign about the dangers to children on this or at least slap a huge fine on those who don't fasten their kids in. Anything to get these innocent kids strapped up.