Source: www.7days.ae
A young brother and sister have died after their mother crashed her car while speeding.
The 18-month-old boy and his four-year-old sister, who were not restrained in child car seats, died in the horrific crash on the Dubai-Hatta Road on Saturday night – their two siblings suffered serious injuries, while the mother and two other women suffered minor injuries.
One of the UAE’s most senior prosecutors said the fatal smash is a stark reminder of the dangers of speeding and failing to safely restrain children in vehicles.
Salah Bu Farousha, head of Dubai Traffic Prosecution, told 7DAYS that crash investigations were ongoing, but early findings showed none of the youngsters were in child car seats. He warned: “People shouldn’t speed with children inside the car.
Children should be properly restrained and not allowed in the front. We don’t want our children’s lives lost like this. “It is a cultural issue and people need to be educated about putting a special car seat for children inside their vehicles.
We see so many tragedies because of that and this year at least three children have died in traffic accidents in Dubai.”
MUM TO BE PROSECUTED
Bu Farousha added: “It was an awful accident because the children died for nothing, just because of a mistake.”
The latest road deaths will give more ammunition to road safety campaigners, who have been lobbying for a law to make child car seats mandatory across the UAE.
A study released last year showed that 98 per cent of respondents did not restrain children properly when driving. The UAE government has been looking into the issue, and Dr Nadehm bin Taher, director of the Roads and Land Freight department at the National Transport Authority, said they are working on laws to improve child safety in school buses and private vehicles.
This latest accident happened at 8.30pm on Saturday.
Bu Farousha said the 29-year-old mother was driving when her car veered to the right, struck a 4×4 and flipped twice.
The two children died, their five-year-old sister and six-year-old brother were injured, as were the driver and two Filipina housemaids.
The mother was arrested, but has been released on bail.
However, Bu Farousha said she will face prosecution. He said: “Usually in such cases when relatives die we go easy on the motorist because of their loss, but the law must serve its cause.”
