Dubai: Not wearing a seat belt while driving was the common factor among five traffic accident survivors, who sustained serious and life-altering injuries and were visited by police at Rashid Hospital on Tuesday.
Officials from Dubai Traffic Police Department, Dubai Health Authority, Rashid Hospital and Barclays Bank visited those injured in traffic accidents, who shared their tragic experiences.
One of the patients at the Emergency and Trauma Centre at Rashid Hospital has been there since 2006. Ali Ahmad Al Kimdi, who will be turning 29 in a few days, slept at the wheel eight years ago and is still suffering the consequences.
“I was driving some time past midnight somewhere in Al Aweer area, when I fell asleep. I lost control of the car and it swerved and flipped and I flew out of the windscreen because I was not wearing a seat belt.” Al Kimdi said.
Al Kimdi sustained multiple injuries to his spinal cord, which left him bedridden and unable to take care of himself.
“I just want to tell drivers not to drive when they are tired and get enough rest so they don’t end up like me.”
Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, Director of Dubai Traffic Police, said during the visit that one of the problems the police face is that people do not learn from the bad experiences of others or take awareness campaigns to heart.
“People get scared for a day or two, then after that they forget about the dangers and go back to their old wrong driving habits,” he said.
He said that a lot of these accidents can be prevented if people have the awareness and share it with their family and friends.
Khalid Bin Suweidan, 44, lost his job and the ability to use his hands and legs after the tyre of his friend’s modified Land Cruiser burst one morning in March.
“We were heading back from work at 7am, the car had bigger tyres fitted and he had used a substance that is used to make car tyres shine. This substance, over time, absorbs the heat and affects the durability of the tyres. He was driving at around 120 km/h when the tyre burst,” Bin Suweidan said.
The car went out of control and flipped and Bin Suweidan, who was also not wearning a seatbelt, flew out of the window, after which the car landed on him.
“My spinal cord was injured and I had fractures in my spine. Initially I was completely paralysed, but after physical therapy, I am only partially paralysed,” he said.
Bin Suweidan has a family but his injuries prevent him from working. “Don’t modify your car. If it was meant to be that way, then the manufacturer would have done it. Also always wear a seat belt.”
Dr Faisal Saeed Al Badri, Consultant and Head of the General Surgery Unit at Rashid Hospital, said that they receive between two and five traffic accident emergency cases a day.
He said that he worked in Sweden for 15 years, and the severity and number of the cases he saw here in weeks was almost equivalent to what he saw there in years.
