Dangers of not buckling up

Gulf News

Gulf News participates in a low-speed accident simulation test and speaks to experts about just how important it is for motorists and passengers to wear seat belts. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Imagine being in this car with this driver without a seatbelt on.

00:21You are watching a simulation of a road accident of a car that's rolling over upon impact.

00:43To know the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt during a collision or when a car flips over

00:48in an accident, our team decided to try the simulator to see for ourselves.

01:06The speed at which this car is rolling over is just 5 kilometers per hour.

01:11If this were an actual accident, the unstrapped dummy behind us would have suffered fatal

01:16injuries and he would have killed or seriously injured us too.

01:46How is it?

01:48How is it?

01:50It's very scary.

01:52If you are not wearing a seatbelt, if there is a collision, directly you can hit the screen window.

02:00So you will be pulled outside.

02:02You will be pulled outside.

02:04And these major injuries, head injuries, chest injuries, first of all you will hit on the screen shield, your head.

02:14So you can prevent that head injuries.

02:20According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, one person gets killed in a road crash every 30 seconds around the world.

02:28That's more than 3,300 per day and over 1.2 million people per year.

02:34The same report said wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of death among front seat passengers by 40-50% and among rear seat passengers by 25-75%.

02:50But only if you are wearing the seatbelt properly.

02:54Another most common wrong way, twisted belt.

02:58It will be twisted.

03:00So now it will not work as a belt.

03:02It will become a rope.

03:04At the time of collision, what can happen?

03:06Belt will lock. It can cut your body.

03:08Wearing seatbelts is only mandatory for front seat passengers in the UAE.

03:13Dubai police caught 46,364 violators in 2013.

03:19The risks for car occupants are multiplied with the common problem of letting kids sit in the car unrestrained.

03:27Some 674 children below 14 years old died in traffic accidents between 2000 and 2010.

03:33That's about 61 deaths per year.

03:36A 3-year-old Emirati boy died in January in Ras al-Khaimah after being thrown out through the windscreen.

03:43A year earlier, a 2-year-old boy was killed in an accident when his mother lost control of her car and crashed into a tree in Ras al-Khaimah.

03:52Approximately 60% children killed by the car accident in the UAE, they were not properly used in the safety child system.

03:59Children's body is lighter than the adult's one.

04:02So the weight is light, so he will be directly thrown outside having more serious critical injuries.

04:10Of all accident stories in 2012, one stood out.

04:14A mother and her 5-month-old baby survived a serious car crash, which saw the vehicle spin out of control and turn upside down.

04:23The baby was strapped into a child safety seat in the back of the car, sparing him serious injury.

04:45This seatbelt convincer was mimicking a car driving at a speed of 8-10 kilometers per hour that hit a stationary object.

04:54To be honest, I totally underestimated the speed at which we were driving. I thought 10 kilometers is quite slow.

05:01But I felt the tug in my chest and it's quite painful in the waist part, in the waist area.

05:07But it's good that I'm wearing a seatbelt. Otherwise, it would have been a different story.

05:12If this could happen to you with kids unrestrained at low speeds, imagine the impact at high-speed crashes.

05:18Very low weight. If it is a little bit weighter, it will come on your head. So it can break your neck.

05:26By law, children aged 10 years and below are not allowed to sit in front even with a belt on.

05:32A baby's neck and head on a mother's lap can get smashed if an airbag deploys during a collision.

05:39Babies and children should be seated in child car seats appropriate for their age and weight and placed at the rear side of the vehicle.

05:47Janice Ponce de Leon for Golf News.

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