Child Passenger Safety in the United Arab Emirates: A Review

Road traffic accidents are the main cause of mortality, morbidity and disability for children in the United Arab Emirates and pose a severe economic and public health burden on the population. An appropriate use of a child restraint system can significantly reduce injuries and fatalities for children vehicle occupants in an event of a crash. However, despite the flurry of continuous and consistent calls for child occupant safety legislation for over three decades, research in key areas of child passenger safety which are vital for paediatric vehicle safety regulations, legislations, certifications and recommendations is surprisingly lacking. To date, no research has been conducted relevant to the areas of child anthropometry and automotive safety, paediatric injury biomechanics and numerical modelling and crash simulations of child restraint systems. This has led to the promulgation of child passenger safety legislation which is not in tune with the reality of child passenger safety in the country and also not in line with the best practice of child restraint legislation requirements of the world health organisation. Thus, relevant paediatric vehicle safety research such as the engineering analysis of child occupant injuries and fatalities is required in order to enhance the protection of child passengers in motor vehicles. A very strong synergy between both the medical and engineering disciplines would be necessary in order to improve paediatric occupant safety in the country.