Dubai Taxis and Limos to Provide Child Seats
- All taxi franchise companies and limousine services in Dubai will make child car seats available to passengers, announced RTA officials
- Taxi and limo drivers in Dubai have been instructed and trained to remind commuters to use the seat belt before commencing their journey
- An amended Federal Traffic Law that came into effect on 1st July, 2017, mandates car child seats for children up to the age of four years, which is now applicable to taxis and limos as well
- The law does not specify the number of child car seats a vehicle is supposed to have, but the minimum would be one
- Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is the government entity that is responsible for developing and maintaining all transport-related infrastructure in Dubai
- 34% of UAE drivers don’t have proper child restraint systems and if they do, 30% don’t always use them for their kids, as per a research project carried out by RoadSafetyUAE in February 2017
- In UAE, if any of the passengers are found not wearing a seatbelt, the driver will be fined AED 400 per violator and charged four black points, and the same penalty will be applied if there is not appropriate child car seat for children
- Short people and children below 10 years of age are not allowed to sit in the front passenger seat in UAE, as the seatbelt might be a choke hazard
- The heaviest penalty in UAE is for driving under the influence of alcohol, for which a fine of AED 20000 will be charged, along with 23 black points, confiscation of license for 60 days, and the possibility of jail term
