Saluting the safety initiative taken by the UAE
– Kamal Loungani, the Founder and CMD of KIT Group
New Car Seat rules to ensure safety for children
The government of the UAE has brought out new directives in order to keep Child safety as the first priority while travelling by car. New car seat rules have been laid out to ensure safety for children travelling by car. As per the new regulations, child car seats that are sold in the UAE should pass crash tests. Further, each seat should bear proper labelling and classifications by age. It is a sincere effort of the Government of the UAE to place the safety of children travelling by car as the top priority. In addition, the government has set a deadline to all car seat dealers in the UAE less than 6 months to comply with a new set of standards and regulations. A directive that is truly laudable.
Understanding the Federal enforcement behind this initiative:
Safety standard for child seat has been proposed and formulated by the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA). The approved standards conform to the European Union and US standards. The amendments to the Federal Traffic Law has made safety seats mandatory for children under four years of age. The new rule was effective from the first of July, 2017.
Inclusiveness behind this initiative:
As per the official news, this new seat system has been put forward to make sure that the residents of the UAE strap their children into the right kind of seats. This amendment will ensure quality consistency of child safety seats. Henceforth seats have to be designed based on the directive that elevates child seat beyond just plastic and cushion. The news further added those safety seats that don’t comply with the standards of ESMA will be pulled out of the sale.
Ensuring safety beyond just strapping:
Buckling up doesn’t ensure the safety of a child in the child safety seat of the car. It has to be upto the ESMA’s standard to cushion the hard falls in case of an untoward accident. Thankfully, as per the new safety standard, the impact of an accident will be greatly reduced. Thus, the manufacturers and the importers of child safety seats are advised to apply for ESMA approval. They can apply through the official website www.esma.gov.ae. On submission of application, the products will be validated by internationally accredited laboratories and be certified accordingly.
The maximum safety measure gets support from all avenues:
The best part of the initiative is the child seat distributors and traffic experts welcomed this move. A move that clearly states that the nation is geared to ensure safe car ride for the children. This standardization is a great step taken for the protection of children. This excellent initiative of ESMA will certainly prevent the unfit products from getting into the market.
And finally:
‘The US News and World Report’ has placed the UAE among world’s top 10 destinations. So it is the responsibility of the residents of the UAE to ensure safety for themselves and to the visitors. Most importantly to the children traveling by car. Not surprisingly, it is a welcoming move by the UAE that ensures safety to the young ones.
Kamal Loungani