RIYADH, 19 May — Enforcing the seat belt rule began last Ramadan throughout the Kingdom. It has already had positive results for drivers in Riyadh and no doubt in other areas of the Kingdom. People have now become more aware and more willing to abide by the seat belt law. They have also started buckling up their children and using proper safety seats for them.
Sarah’s son was only three days old when he was brought home from the hospital in an infant car seat. “In the beginning, it was a hassle, but after a few trips in the car, everybody got used to the arrangement and it became natural,” she said.
Hessa recently started wearing her seat belt. “After my husband and I began to wear our seat belts, we made sure our children wore theirs too,” she said. Hessa said her family felt much safer wearing seat belts. “You just feel more secure wearing them.”
Umm Muhammad has three children and uses seat belts for two of them and puts the other one in an infant seat. She and her husband also wear belts. “My husband and I travel to stores, visit family and run other daily errands more easily now,” she said. “By wearing our seat belts, we are trying to keep our family safe and not risk any fines.”
Traffic police are positioned at selected intersections in major cities to enforce the law and promote seat belt usage. The fine for violating seat belt and safety seat laws is currently SR100.
Shops catering to children such as Toys R Us, Mother Care, and Kid Kingdom carry plentiful supplies of children’s seats in all sizes for all vehicles. One can find these seats in the less expensive shopping markets too. In fact, it’s impossible to walk into a shop for children and not see infant car seats and child booster seats for sale.
An employee at Toys R Us stated that since the seat belt campaign began, there has been an increase in sales of infant and child safety seats. “Nowadays both are becoming more necessary because Saudi law requires every child who rides in a vehicle to be placed in car seats or use a seat belt,” he said.
At the same time, there are still many drivers who do not use seat belts. Naturally, their children do not use them either. We can still see cars with children jumping up and down restlessly and small children sitting on their mother’s — or sometimes even their father’s — laps. The employee at Toys R Us added, “I don’t know why more people are not using them. It is the law and it is for the safety of the children that they be placed in safety seats or use seat belts.”
Speaking at the open traffic awareness campaign last December, Dr. Samir Lingawi, health director in Jeddah, said, “During the past 20 years more than 800,000 accidents have taken place in the Kingdom, at the rate of 110 accidents a day which caused the deaths of 87,000 people.” Considering how fast many vehicles drive and the high number of accidents on our roads, these statistics alone should encourage parents to make use of these safety devices and obey the laws.
