Facts from the Eastern Mediterranean Region: 6. use of protective devices

© World Health Organization 2025. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Doc. No. WHO-EM/HLP/153/E 6. Use of protective devices Facts from the Eastern Mediterranean Region 2 0 9 Have a national law that covers all riders, applies to all road types and all engine types, and requires the helmet to be fastened and meet a standard Have a national law indicating that children up to the age of 10 years, or 135 cm in height, must use a child restraint system that meets a standard, with prohibition of children of a particular age/height from sitting in the front seats Have a national law that applies to all seating positions in vehicles Wearing a motorcycle helmet correctly can reduce the risk of death by 40% and risk of severe injuries by 70%. Motorcycle helmet Wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of a fatal injury by up to 50% for front seat occupants and the risk of death and serious injury by 25% among rear seat occupants. Child restraints can reduce deaths by at least 60%. For children 8–12 years, booster seat use has been associated with a 19% reduction in the odds of injury compared to using a seat belt alone. Seat belts Child restraints Number of countries that meet best practices Best practices 0 6 11 16 21