More than half – some 54 percent – of deaths among children who are up to four years old in Qatar are caused by traffic accidents, Hamad Medical Corp. has said.

“In almost all the cases, the victims are those travelling on the front seat, without wearing a seat belt”, says Rafael Consunji, a consultant at HMC’s Trauma Department, as quoted in the Peninsula.

The doctor was being interviewed about the launch of HMC’s new drive to improve child safety, entitled “Kulluna” (“all of us”).

The first part of the campaign is called “Keep Us Safe,” and it’s being run in collaboration with Safe Kids Worldwide.

“Keep Us safe” will work to improve safety at home and out and about, but will focus particularly on injuries caused by road accidents – a major cause for concern in Qatar, which has the world’s highest rate of traffic accident fatalities relative to its population size.

Hamad is planning to hold awareness-raising roadshows, and they plan to involve schools, too.

There is no law requiring parents to put their children in special car safety seats in Qatar.

Seat belt safety is a hot topic in Qatar. Earlier this year, we featured this blog post about an expat’s shock at seeing so many children loose in cars. 

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by Sean Dreilinger