www.womanthismonth.com 67 March 2015 BMW Group Middle East’s ‘Stay Alert. Stay Alive.’ road safety campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of wearing seatbelts. To encourage drivers to really think before they drive, BMW Group urges drivers to ask themselves the following questions: • Do you buckle up as soon as you get in the car? • Do you insist that your passengers wear a seatbelt? • Do your children have the right safety restraints for their weight and age? If you have answered no, even just once, you need to read the following five reasons to buckle up. 1. Seatbelts Save Lives It’s been proven time and again. Seatbelts save lives and reduce injuries in traffic accidents. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of a fatality among front seat passengers by 40-50 per cent and among rear seat car occupants by 25-75 per cent. 2. It’s The Law Wearing a seatbelt while driving or as a passenger is the law and any person found not to be buckled up will face a considerable fine. Similarly, if a child is over 10 years old they must wear a seatbelt, and children under 10 must be restrained using the correct type of child seat. 3. Seatbelts = Life According to the laws of physics, if a vehicle is travelling at 120 kilometres per hour, its contents and passengers are also moving at 120 kilometres per hour. A sudden stop or head-on collision at 120 kilometres per hour can mean the difference of life or death to the passengers wearing seatbelts. In a road traffic accident, passengers who are not buckled up will fly toward the point of impact, colliding with anything in their path, such as a dashboard, windshield or steering wheel with several pounds of moving force. Seatbelts are designed to stop the uncontrolled movement of people within a vehicle and are therefore one of the most important tools to prevent serious injury or death in a road traffic accident. 4. Even The Best Drivers Have Accidents Your driving experience and confidence levels will not account for the often unpredictable actions of other drivers. Even the most skilled drivers cannot be 100 per cent certain of the ability to prevent an accident when another driver is at fault. It is therefore essential that every driver and passenger wears a seatbelt any time they are in a moving vehicle. 5. Seatbelts Reduce Child Fatalities Children are not small adults – they need specialised protection in a moving vehicle. Until the age of seven, children’s bones are still forming, which means they must be protected from the force of an accident. Babies’ skulls are extremely soft and even a small impact can result in significant deformation of the head and brain. Parents have to make sure they use the right restraint for their child’s age and size. There are different seats available and selecting the appropriate one is crucial to ensuring that children are effectively protected. Call 17 750-750. showcase EURO MOTORS REASONS TO BUCKLE UP! As the Kingdom’s new traffic laws come into effect, it’s an ideal time to brush up on the fundamentals of driving safely. Perhaps one of the most blatantly overlooked elements is wearing a seatbelt.
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