Motorists in Oman rush to fit safety kit in vehicles

Muscat: With just a day to go for the new road safety law to come into effect, owners could be seen making final changes to their vehicles at various garages across the Sultanate.
Saif Al Riyami, a resident of the Sultanate and a father of three children, recently installed two child seats in his car and got the vehicle thoroughly checked at a garage in Mabella.
Seat belts
“I wouldn’t hesitate to confess that I never cared much about strapping on back seat belts and installing child seats until this law was announced. My wife would usually hold our youngest, seven-month-old child in the front, while our five-year-old and three-year-old would sit in the back seats or in the middle of the front seats,” he said.
Al Riyami further said the amended law broadened his horizon by educating him on the importance of road safety, which affects society as a whole.
Fahad Al Balushi, owner of Triangle International Garage in Wadi Kabir, told the Times of Oman that his garage has been relatively more crowded and busy in the last 10 days. “My workers have been doing overtime for the last 10 days as the number of customers has increased and the demand for middle seat belts has been noticeable as well,” he said.
According to Al Balushi, a lot of cars, both old and new models, were either missing middle seat belts or the belt was stuck due to non-usage. “We have installed some 13 middle seat belts and fixed seven till date. We have more car owners with the same concern and for installing child seats,” he said.
Another garage owner from Mabella reported the same situation at his garage.
“For the last one week, there has been a great flow of customers, coming in to fix their cars, especially seat belts and sound systems,” Faisal Al Balushi, garage owner, Global Continent Project, said.
“I have been in this business for the last seven years and have fixed hundreds of cars. But since the amendments have been made to the existing road safety law, many more customers are coming in for installation of child seats than ever before,” he said
“It is good to see that citizens are abiding by the rules and regulations imposed by the Royal Oman Police to maintain road safety. It’s never too late. This definitely is going to make roads safer than before,” he added.