#OmanPride: Car safety seats for children to become mandatory soon: Royal Oman Police

More sports Saturday 24/September/2016 20:33 PM
By: Times News Service
#OmanPride: Car safety seats for children to become mandatory soon:  Royal Oman Police

Muscat: Child safety seats may become mandatory while travelling in cars very soon, according to a senior official at the Royal Oman Police (ROP).
“We are working on the executive regulations for the newly amended traffic law and it will explain everything about safety seats for children in cars,” the official said.
The Children First Association is a child safety organisation founded by the Ministry of Social development in 2009, with Her Highness Muna bint Fahd Al Said appointed as its chairperson.
Along with focusing on different aspects of child safety, the association is also trying to raise awareness among families in Oman about the importance of child car seats, according to Dr. Ibrahim Al Harthi, deputy chairman of the association.
“Our goal is to raise awareness among families in Oman and we try to talk to them about the car seats and features of the seats and how they can help children. We are distributing posters for awareness purposes and also planning to distribute free car seats later, based on the funding we receive.”
“We are also in talks with hospitals, families of newborns, the ROP, and hopefully we will have small teams all across the country very soon, which will spread this message. We have our Instagram and Twitter pages up and running, offering free advice to everyone about child safety, our website is also active and gives out similar information.”
Until now, the organisation has allocated OMR2,000 for child safety seats, and is looking for more funding from different groups and organisations.
“Children First is working on creating awareness on many things, including food and nutrition, our ‘My Food’ campaign, which is about what children eat and what they should be eating as part of a good diet,” Al Harthi stated.
The public in Oman has also been regularly and actively calling for a law to make child safety seats mandatory in cars as most people in the country tend to ignore this important safety measure for their children.
Ana Vukman, a former resident of Oman, said it is important to make this a law if we want to make the roads safer for children. “They are important for the safety of children and must be made a law as soon as possible.”
Sahar, a resident of Oman said, “Like in all the European countries, it should be a must to have child safety seats in cars in Oman too. It is also very dangerous to carry children in the lap while the car is moving.”
Mohammed Osama Rawat, another resident, also appealed for such a law, “Even under normal circumstances, it will keep the child safe and intact on the seat in case of sudden use of breakdown due to some reason. Its benefits in the case of an accident are unquestionable.”
Shaista Parveen, whose child was hurt because of not being in a safety seat, said even if there is no accident, it is very important for children to be in a safety seat.
“Apart from accidents, these seats help protect children, my daughter was hurt because of us suddenly braking during a holiday and because she was not in a safety car seat.
Parveen now makes sure that her little daughter is always in a car seat.
Omani citizen Ahmed Al Mahrizi said the law should be enforced as soon as possible, “This has to be strictly made a must, with violators being fined.”