New Waze Navigation App Features Children's Voices
To combat the high number of traffic fatalities in Malaysia, a three-way collaboration between Waze, Malaysian based telecommunications company Maxis, and creative agency Ensemble Worldwide has resulted in an innovative safety reminder on the road that features the voices of children.
The corporate social responsibility project is an attempt at improving road safety simply by using the voices of children in the Safe Mode Kids voice pack option on Waze. It serves as a reminder to adults that when driving recklessly, childrens' lives are at stake.
"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 cars as possible. Ninety-two percent of road accidents are caused by driver-related errors, and we believe Safe Mode Kids is a non-naggy, charming, and effective way to remind drivers to be safer, and hopefully save lives," said Sulin Lau, head of marketing services at Maxis, in a statement.
The idea for the kids voice pack was inspired by the insight from a Maxis-commissioned study that found nine out of 10 parents drive safer when their kids are in the car.
Different from other Waze special voice packs that usually feature a single celebrity voice, theSafe Mode Kids invited children between the ages of three to 12 years old to donate their voices for Waze directional prompts with charming reminders to drive safely. Instead of the standard Waze navigation prompts you will hear: 'All set. Don't forget your seatbelt,' 'Re-routing. Eyes on the Road!' and "Accident reported ahead. Please be careful, OK?"
The initiative that started out as a local campaign in Malaysia and is now being launched globally. The kids' voice pack is now available to more than 50 million Waze users around the world.