Gearing up to prevent forgotten baby syndrome

THE Miros Children in Vehicle Tracking and Alerting System (MyCinta), meant to curb the forgotten baby syndrome, will undergo design refinement this year, says Anthony Loke.

“The target for 2024-2025 in relation to the MyCinta system is to complete the design refinement process to increase the system’s capabilities in terms of hardware and programming,” the Transport Minister said in a parliamentary written reply dated June 27.

Aside from that, he said the system would have to undergo tests for standard and regulatory compliance, quality assurance and other related certifications, before it could be used widely.

The prototype for the system was launched by the Transport Ministry through the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) 2023.

When put into use, the system can track the presence of a child in a vehicle once the engine is turned off. An automatic alert will then be sent to the driver or emergency contact person through a phone call or an application.

Loke was responding to a question by Shaharizukirnain Abd Kadir (PN-Setiu) on the target set for the MyCinta system and the findings on its efficacy.

According to police data, there had been a total of 14 cases of children left in vehicles since 2020. It was reported in February that a five-year-old girl died after she was accidentally left in the car by her mother at Hospital Shah Alam’s parking lot.

Another similar case was reported on Nov 8, when a two-year-old child died after being left in a car for over seven hours.