The UAE Cabinet has approved a draft local policy to regulate child car seats in vehicles to improve safety, as suggested by the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA).
The draft policy aims to implement the highest standards of security and safety for children in vehicles, with the aim of reducing the rate of accidents involving children.
Under the new regulations, children’s car seats will need to pass stringent crash tests before being sold in the UAE.
Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, State Minister and Chairman of the (ESMA), stressed that the new policy will reduce the rate of accidents involving children. "Studies have shown that collisions involving children without a seat belt while going through a windshield of a vehicle running at 50 Kmh, is equivalent to the fall of an individual from the third floor of a building. Therefore, it is considered a deadly accident," he added.
He also stressed that the UAE’s policy to regulate child car seats in vehicles complies with the new amendments to the federal traffic law, which was approved by H.H. Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and came into force at the beginning of July 2017.