With temperatures dropping, and more than one million visiting fans and residents expected to celebrate the matches during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, the Hamad Injury Prevention Program (HIPP) at Hamad Trauma Center of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is warning families not to travel with passengers, especially children, in an open sunroof or window.
According to HIPP Director Dr Rafael Consunji, car safety is one of the most important things they stress to kids every time they step in and out of a vehicle. HIPP is the community outreach arm of the HMC Hamad Trauma Center. Dr Consunji said they recommend that children wear seat belts and don’t stick their heads or arms out of the window or sunroofs, because passengers, especially young children, are exposed to extremely high risks for severe injury, amputation and even death if they are standing in a sunroof in the event of a collision or even just a sudden turn or stop.
The safety expert urges parents and guardians not to drive with windows completely open, allow unrestrained children to extend their hands/arms and head outside of the vehicle, or allow children to ride in open sunroofs while the vehicle is moving. He said that both practices are extremely risky for a number of reasons.
- First, even with the windows closed and no sunroof, an unrestrained child who is not in a size-appropriate car seat or seatbelt, has three times the risk of severe injury or death in a car crash or sudden stop from high speed.
- Next, if that child is allowed to extend any part of his/her body from an open window then the child is exposed to two additional risks – they expose their head or hands/arms to direct trauma from other vehicles, roadside structures, and even pedestrians and the chance of ejection from the vehicle is significantly increased.
- Lastly, allowing children to stand in open sunroofs adds additional exposure to overhead signs and tree branches plus an even greater chance of ejection and being pinned and crushed underneath the vehicle, in the event of a rollover, one of the most common causes of road traffic injury in Qatar.
Dr Consunji said it’s important for parents and families to remember that one of the most important things they can teach and demonstrate to their children is the consistent use of a seatbelt or size-appropriate car seat, on every journey, no matter how short or at what speed.
He said that oftentimes, it is the sudden and unexpected behaviour of other motorists that can transform a routine journey into a nightmare experience. Whether or not a passenger is restrained properly will dictate whether they will be injured, or even die, as a result of a car crash.
No responsible parent wants to knowingly take unnecessary risks with their most precious cargo, and Dr Consunji is asking everyone to spread this safety warning, to ensure that no child in Qatar will be hurt while riding unrestrained with their head, arms, or hands out of an open window or sunroof.
Let us control what we can, do not gamble with the health and future of children.
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