Adults tend to drive much more conservatively when a child is in the car with them as the safety of a child is of paramount importance. Jumping onto that logic, Waze and Maxis has collaborated together on the “Safe Mode Voice Pack” project.

This project is, as the name implies, a voice pack for Waze where the normally adult announcers are replaced by a child’s voice, giving the impression to the driver that a child is with them in the car. Some of the phrases that can be heard during Waze’s navigation prompts are “All set. Don’t forget your seatbelt”, “Re-routing. Eyes on the Road!” and “Accident reported ahead. Please be careful, ok?”

“Let’s face it- parents DO drive safer when kids are in the car. So we worked with Waze to put kids in as many Malaysian cars as possible. With the festive season approaching and knowing that Malaysia ranks 17th in the world for ‘most dangerous roads’, we thought Safe Mode Kids could be a charming and effective way to remind our fellow Malaysians to drive safer,” says Sulin Lau, Head of Marketing Services of Maxis.

Waze’s Safe Mode Voice Pack is now available for everyone who has the Waze application installed on their smartphone regardless of telco provider. All you have to do in Open Waze, select Settings, click on the Sound selection and go to Voice Language. From there, scroll down the list of available sounds till the “Safe Mode with Kids (powered by Maxis” option appears.