In July 2017, the UAE government passed a law declaring that children under the age of 4 were required to be placed into a car safety seat for every journey.

Drivers who failed to ensure this was done would cop a 400 AED fine and 4 black points.

This has been a welcome change to the UAE traffic and driving legislation because there was never a mandatory requirement for children to be placed into car seats.

The UAE Cabinet also set out a set of specifications and standards for car seat dealers to comply with in order to maintain high quality of safety with baby car seats. This new law requires car seats to pass crash tests and have proper labeling to ensure the correct car seats were chosen for children based on age and weight.

Although the law does not stipulate whether the car seats should be front-facing or rear-facing, the recommendations coming out of Europe indicate that children should be seated in rear-facing car seats until the age of 4. This differs for America where the age is reduced to 2. That being said, you must comply with this law as it is firstly, for your child’s safety and secondly, because it is mandated by the UAE Government and should be obeyed.

In retail outlets, car seat prices start around 350-400 AED and can go above 1500AED for larger, more fancier models.

You’ll be thankful that you took the time to strap your child in to a car seat, even just for a 5 minute drive down the road.

You can find both new and used car seats for sale on getthat.com – where everything is within easy reach!