Assessment of mother’s knowledge on importance and need for Child Car Safety Seat in UAE

Abstract

Automobile-related accidents are one of the prime reasons for morbidity and mortality in infants and children worldwide accounting for 22.3% of the total.1 Lowand middle-income countries have the highest incidences of road accidents worldwide causing 96% of the child deaths. Although United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a high-income country, the prevalence of child fatalities due to road accidents is more than twice of the global projection.2 Every two out of three deaths (~63%) in children below 14 years of age is due to road accidents in UAE.2 Infants taken in arms and child held on lap while driving is vulnerable to get severely injured in case of an accident.3 Restraining child by proper application of seat belts is the sole useful measure for decreasing the number of deaths and disabilities in infants and children due to road accidents.4 Child car safety seat correctly positioned in the back seat of the car along with age-appropriate accessories such as booster seats and lap belt decreases the risk of death and severe injuries in infants by 71% and in children between age 14 years by 54% to 80%.5,6 An inappropriately installed child car safety seat increases the risk of head injuries in children by four times.7 Further, children sitting freely in the rear seat of the motor vehicle experience 35% less of injuries than those in the front.8 To the above situation, an addition of seat belts further decreases the chance of getting injured by 44%.4 This, in turn, lowers the number of hospital admissions in children aged ≤4 years by 69%.9 Nonetheless, Emirati parents remain skeptical about the potency of child car safety seat as evident from their less usage. A preliminary survey conducted by UAE University demonstrated that a child is safer in the arms of the mother was the prevalent misconception among the UAE parents. Moreover, the study also indicated that Emirati parents found inconvenient to use the child safety seat which caused only 20% usage of car safety seats.10 Besides, other hurdles that come in the way of using child car safety seat includes big Emirati family size, Emirati culture, embarrassments felt by the child, and a shortage of police on roads as well as the use of tinted glass by the motorist affecting law enforcement. Albeit numerous initiatives were undertaken for promoting usage of child car safety seat in UAE none are fruitful enough to bring down the child-related fatalities at par with other high-income countries like the USA and Europe.11–14 In USA and Europe, motor vehicle-related child deaths due to road accidents account for only 3% and 5.2% of the total respectively.6 The reason is the lack of use of child safety seat by UAE parents. Among parents, mothers are very concerned about the safety of the infant/child.15 Understanding their awareness and perspective on child safety seat might aid in formulating laws and/or practices