Selangor gov’t aims to prevent further child deaths in cars, will launch campaign to raise public awareness

The Selangor government says it is aiming to raise public awareness of children’s safety to prevent further deaths of children left unattended in cars. This comes following the recent incident in which a five-year old girl died after being left in a parked car at the Hospital Shah Alam car park earlier this week.

Given the repeated occurrences of such cases, state executive council member Anfaal Saari said the Selangor government plans to create awareness of the issue via a campaign, and is looking to launch the Selangor Safe Family Campaign as soon as possible.

She called on industry players and NGOs to participate in the campaign. “God willing, at the state government level, we will implement the Selangor Safe Family Campaign as soon as possible to increase the awareness of parents and community members about child safety,” she said via a Facebook post, as reported by Malaysiakini.

She said that the case earlier this week “gave us a ‘red flag’, especially to me as a policy maker, because the same thing happens repeatedly.” Cases such as this have been happening of late, perhaps due to forgetfulness, a long to-do list and stress, or a combination of the above. This phenomenon is known as the “forgotten baby syndrome.”

Besides getting parents to be more aware of their children’s wherabouts at all times, Anfaal said that the use of technological innovation could help in resolving the issue. “We need startups that can develop apps and devices that allow parents to monitor or receive alerts about their children’s whereabouts digitally and physically such as in a vehicle or at a daycare centre,” the Taman Templer state assemblyperson said.

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