Aljomaih Automotive Company (AAC), the largest dealer of General Motors in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, is launching an awareness campaign focusing on children’s safety in automobiles. The initiative will be heavily advertised across street banners, social media and newspapers.
AAC intends to hold informative events, in which it will distribute educational material as well as car seats to families across malls, hospitals and children parks in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah.
Car accidents are the number one killer of children between ages 1 and 12 in the Kingdom. Half of those who died in a motor vehicle crash under 5 years of age were unrestrained. Moreover, 72 percent of 3,500 observed car seats and booster seats were misused in a way that could increase a child’s risk of injury in an accident, and 40 percent of children who ride with unrestrained adults are not buckled up.
The issue of children’s safety in automobiles is part of a bigger dilemma in the Kingdom, as there is a lack of awareness, false perception and wrong behaviors regarding the subject. AAC is determined to counter those problems in its latest campaign, by tackling the attitudes of elders who regard children’s safety in cars as merely a matter of fate. In addition, the company aims to raise awareness about the threats of not using a car seat, while promoting the proper usage of car seats for children of different ages.
Waleed Aljomaih, chief operating officer of AAC, said: “Ensuring a well-balanced positive development for our little ones requires managing their safety first while minimizing their chances of injury, a task that entails, among others, safeguarding their transportation in automobiles by using age-specific restraints properly.”
He added: “Children mortality in car accidents across the Kingdom remains unnecessarily high. AAC regards any complacency in tackling that issue as gross negligence by everyone involved, a fact which inspired us to launch our latest campaign in the hope of reversing that trend.”

Source: Arab News