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BUCKLING up on every journey was on the agenda at Little Gems Pre-School in Barbar as both children and parents learnt the importance of using seat belts and child seats during Traffic Awareness Week.
Teachers were spotted checking all incoming and outgoing cars and stopping parents and drivers who were putting their children and themselves to risk.
Parents were also provided with an information booklet, designed by concerned mum Aila Asu and previously featured in GulfWeekly, which outlines types of car seats and the right ways to secure a child on the seat.
The message was reinforced using creative methods such as coloured sheets of paper as a visual reference and singing nursery rhymes on traffic signals.
Principal Eleanor Benson said: "Our children have been learning how to cross the road safely, holding their parents' hands in the car park and about the importance of wearing seatbelts.
"Our staff members have been out in the car park every morning and afternoon reminding parents and drivers to wear their own seatbelts and telling them about the importance of car seats.
"Mrs Asu, a parent at the school, also produced a fantastic information leaflet, which we printed and distributed to parents. Overall the week has been a great success and we have received a lot of positive feedback."
A recent study by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveals that children and babies are likely to sustain less injury and survive death in car accidents if secured in a car safety seat.
It said that car safety seats are 71 per cent effective in reducing deaths for infants and 54 per cent effective in reducing deaths for children aged one to four years.
Fadi Abuhamdeh, Middle East Area Director of Chicco's which makes car and baby safety product, said that parents' bad driving habits can greatly increase the risk of serious injury to toddlers and children.
He added: "You may have seen family members hold babies on their laps either in the front seat or in the back seat ... this is not a safe practice. It might be a generational attitude inherited from parents or grandparents, but it is actually endangering youngsters.
"Placing children in the back seat could reduce the risk of serious injury by 40 per cent. Moreover, using age and size appropriate car seats and booster seats reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half."
