Education matters

Three months ago, traffic authorities in the UAE passed a law making it compulsory for every person travelling in a car no matter where they are sat to wear a seat belt and a couple of weeks ago it became statutory meaning that drivers who put the lives of themselves, or their passengers in danger, will be fined and receive black marks on their license.

This demonstrates an enormous commitment to public safety and in turn brings our neighbours in line with many other countries around the world that recognise the enormous contribution to the prevention of unnecessary injury and death that seatbelts make. This has been a long time coming.

I’ve said it before in my column and it looks like I have to say it again. If other countries in the Middle East are waking up to the truth about responsibility on the road then when will Bahrain step up and realise that there is a problem?

If the stories I hear are true, driving in Saudi Arabia is akin to the Wild West and that’s fine for the Saudis who live there. If they want to turn a blind eye to the needless pain that road deaths and injuries cause families then so be it, but when those drivers choose to behave the same way in Bahrain then that is a different matter.

If Bahrain finally caught up with countries like the UAE and made simple things such as the use of belts compulsory for sitting in every seat, then visitors to the island would all be bound by the same traffic laws and that might actually make drivers from other GCC countries a little more respectful of the people who live here and a little less self-absorbed when driving on Bahrain’s roads.

The summer holidays are a time when children are more likely to spend time in cars as parents ferry them around, not wanting to leave them home alone. This then, without seatbelt laws being implemented, means that many children are in considerably more danger at this time of year than at any other, as they are more exposed to the dangers of ignoring the importance of seat belts.

Like anything though, the importance of the message is down to the investment in education. Many of my colleagues in UAE schools have told about some of the measures they have been taking to introduce the importance of the new laws to children to whom such things are alien. 

One of the most original methods was to turn it into a competition. Every day this particular class teacher encouraged the children’s parents to message her a photograph of their children wearing seatbelts in their car before they set off on the way to school in the morning. 

Every time she got a photo, the child would get a star. Extra stars were given for images of the children in their seatbelts at other times such as the weekend. 

This created a sense of urgency and enjoyment around the issue and helped children get used to the idea. Like all good teaching, the children were enjoying it so much they didn’t even realise they were learning.

It’s refreshing to see such important and fundamental change taking place in the region and I long for the day that Bahrain steps up and meets the challenge.