“Ingatlah Orang Tersayang” – Drive Safe This Raya with “SAFE MODE KIDS” BY MAXIS AND WAZE

Salam 28 Ramadhan! Alhamdulillah are right at the end of the wonderful fasting month and Raya is approaching real soon.  Majority of Malaysians who are celebrating Hari Raya will be traveling back to their hometowns and to Azman and I, that is something that we really look forward to…

Like most of our friends, we are going home tonight! Yay! We are so  excited… But I am praying inside, that all of us will be safe on the road. As we all know, the festive seasons hold the highest record for road accidents. So please people… this is a reminder to ourselves and to all of you out there… please drive extra carefully, okay…

They always say “Ingatlah Orang Tersayang”or “Think of Your Loved Ones” and for Azman and I, we changed the reminder specifically to “Think of Your Kids!”!  Who would Miki and Rafa turn to if we are not around! Who would your kids turn to? Ughh… Sedih pulak…

Anyway, I think the people in Maxis are mostly caring parents like us as well. Because they initiated “Safe Mode Kids” in Waze, the navigation system that many of us use. This is a first of its kind collaboration between Google
Waze and Maxis.Pretty cool right?

Different from other Waze special voice packs that usually feature a single celebrity voice, Maxis’ Safe Mode Kids invited different children to donate their voices for Waze directional prompts with charming reminders to drive safe. Instead of the standard Waze navigation prompts you will hear: ‘All set. Don’t forget your seatbelt’, ‘Rerouting.
Eyes on the Road!’ and “Accident reported ahead. Please be careful, ok?”

This Inspired by a survey finding that 97% of Malaysian parents claiming they drive much safer
when children are in the car, the Safe Mode Kids project “kidsourced” voices of Malaysian children aged 3 to 12 to develop an innovative way of reminding parents to drive safer.

The ‘kidsourcing’ phase started with 100 parents who volunteered their kids. How I wish I knew about this and get Miki to “donate” his voice as well.  A total of 60 children then auditioned and were given lines to record. 20 voices were finally selected for the voice pack. To see what the kids got up to, click here:

I have started using this voice pack for about a week. And I am telling you it is the cutest thing! Even when I was driving alone, without Miki and Rafa in the car, it sure feels like there were kids in the car. And that inspire me to stay alert and drive carefully.

Here’s how to get the Safe Mode Kids voice pack :
1) Download/open Waze
2) Select Settings
3) Click on Sound
4) Go to Voice Language
5) Select “English (US) – Safe Mode with Kids” (powered by Maxis)

It is very easy and you do not need to download another application. Just your existing Waze, just change the voice pack and there you go… You will hear voice of little angels reminding you to drive safe… hehe…

We have always spoken to our son, Miki, 7 years old, the importance of traveling safe and yesterday we asked him about raya this raya…

He said “Daddy must drive safely, because Miki wants to meet with Opah and Atuk… Miki excited sangat nak balik Penang, then Kedah, then go back to Penang and Kedah again… lepas tu baru balik KL!”

LOL that is surely a lot of traveling, Miki! InsyaAllah we will arrive at our hometown safely… Drive carefully everyone, Ingatlah Yang Tersayang! 🙂