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Police Experiment Makes a Good Case for Banning Waze

Waze has become a must-have app for the arsenal of every modern driver out there, but there’s one feature that has always caused quite a controversy in several countries out there.
Police report on Waze 7 photos
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The Google-owned app allows users to report the location of speed traps, essentially letting other drivers on the road know in advance when they’re approaching the law enforcement along their route.

In theory, there’s nothing wrong with this feature, but more often than not, this feature has proved to be a double-edged sword. And Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Drew Heath has recently demonstrated exactly why in a live experiment for News 2’s Alex Denis.

The police officer parked on the shoulder of Interstate-40 in Wilson County and used his radar gun to scan the speed of the oncoming cars. It didn’t take too long before he caught a speedster.

But minutes after the fine was issued, pretty much every single vehicle that was approaching his location was within the legal speed limit, and the officer could even see some drivers slowing down. The reason? The speed trap was flagged on Waze, and the drivers knew in advance that they could get a fine if going over the speed limit.

The officer says many Wazers end up using this police reporting feature totally wrong.

That individual is traveling on I-40, and I’m waiting on them, and they’re going to pass me until they get that notification on Waze,” he says.

In other words, speedsters see the police report on Waze, slow down until they get past the speed trap, and then accelerate over the limit once again.

Heath explains there’s another downside of the whole thing. In some cases, speedsters end up using alternative routes where going over the limit is even more dangerous.

When asked about this feature, Waze offered the standard response: people drive safer when they know there’s a speed trap ahead, and at some level, this makes perfect sense.

Should the Waze police reporting option be banned? Let us know in the comment section below.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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