Staring from July, it has been made compulsory for all car passengers to wear seat belts. Those who won’t comply will be fined Dh400 along with four black points.
Road SafetyUAE and QIC Insured conducted a survey of nearly 1,000 UAE residents in February this year. The survey involved questioning the motorists in the UAE about the reasons that made them not wear seat belts .
The top ten excuses, the respondents came up with include:
- 55% reported they felt safer without a seat belt while sitting at the back.
- 25% thought seat belts should be worn only during long journeys
- 14% of the respondents believed they were very careful drivers, so it was not possible for them to meet an accident.
- 13% were of the view that airbags are enough for the safety of passengers.
- 11% thought seat belts were inconvenient with 10% complaining that wearing them creased their clothes.
- 6% believed seat belts did not increase safety and 5% said wearing seat belts was not part of the culture.
- 5% did not like the appearance of wearing a belt with another 4% giving religious reasons for not doing so.
Survey results also revealed that 44% drivers don’t ask passengers to wear seat belts, although 91% are aware that bucking up protects drivers and front seat passengers. 81% respondents acknowledged the importance of wearing seat belts in the back seat.
Thomas Edelmann, Founder and MD of Road Safety UAE said this research times well with the law that has been enforced by Ministry of Interior regarding seat belts. The survey results will help stake holders to develop awareness programs that would support execution of the law.
The analysis also discovered that 78% people wore seat belts. When the results were divided in different categories, it was exposed that woman, people above 35, westerners and Sharjah residents preferred wearing seat belts with teen agers having the lowest probability of buckling up.
According to Frederik Bisbjerg, QIC Insured EVP, MENA Retail, seat belts provide safety to people in case of accidents. They supported this project as it is their mission to protect their customers and the eco system.