Wednesday 18 / June / 2025
Muscat: The Oman Road Safety Association will be launching a campaign to reduce the number of child deaths on Oman’s roads on August 2.
The 10-day campaign will be held at the Salalah Gardens Mall in Dhofar and is organised by the Oman Road Safety Association (ORSA) in partnership with Shell Oman, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), and Oman Liquefied Natural Gas LLC.
The campaign will be carried out over three phases, which include raising awareness in hospitals, schools, and shopping malls, in addition to training sessions on how to find and install affordable and safe child car seats.
“Every now and then, the association carries out campaigns mainly targeting the youth, families, and people who commute on roads,” said ORSA CEO Ali Al Barwani. “This campaign sheds light on child seats, as it is one of the main pillars of road safety. The first stage of the campaign will take place in Dhofar to coincide with the Salalah Khareef Festival in August 2018.”
Al Barwani added that visitors to Salalah Gardens Mall will be able to participate in competitions at the Road Safety Exhibition, which will be organised by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and a number of oil and gas companies. The agreement was signed by ORSA, Shell Oman, PDO, and Oman Liquefied Natural Gas LLC last May at the ROP Traffic Safety Academy.
Al Barwani told the Times of Oman that the community is becoming more aware about the importance of child car seats.
“I believe that the community has become more aware of that, and awareness campaigns continue to educate parents about the importance of child seats,” he said.
“Simply put, car seats save children,” he added. “A child’s body cannot withstand the impact of a collision and, therefore, is more prone to injuries. Research shows that the only proven way by which we can protect our children is by putting them in properly fitted, purpose-made child car seats that are appropriate for their height, weight, and age.”
“We need to make sure that parents not only understand their importance and why they have to take it seriously, but that they are educated on how to properly install them to avoid common mistakes,” he explained.
Car seats became mandatory for children under four in Oman last March, as a result of amendments in Oman’s traffic laws.
Motorists who fail to secure their children in appropriate car seats will be charged with endangering a person’s life and fined OMR50. Data released by the ROP in 2017 showed that children accounted for one in every eight deaths on Oman’s roads, stressed Al Barwani.
Children under the age of 15 made up 12 per cent of accident-related deaths in Oman, according to figures released by the ROP and the Directorate General of Traffic in 2017.
Recent data released by the police also showed that a total of 3,845 accidents occurred in 2017, down from 4,721 the previous year. Some 640 deaths occurred last year, compared with 692 in 2016. A total of 3,134 people were injured in 2017, compared with 3,261 people the previous year.
Daytime accidents in 2017 stood at 2,124, compared with 2,584 in 2016, while there were 1,721 accidents that occurred during the night in 2017, compared with 2,137 in 2016.
