Photo: Waze
Waze, the popular and helpful navigation app for drivers, has announced the introduction of a new feature - a speed limit warning.
The idea of this new function is to warn users if they are driving above the speed limit on a road segment. This is helpful for those who take long trips, but also for the areas where speed limits change depending on the season.
Since this is an app that takes user preference into account, users can customize the alert to appear if the velocity limit is reached, or if it is exceeded by five, ten, or 15%.
These percentages are not random, as some countries allow drivers to go faster than the speed limit without a ticket if they do not exceed it by a certain percentage.
We must note that this new feature works with the GPS on your phone and requires a data connection. From personal experience, we feel the need to inform you that the speedometer is not entirely accurate, as it involves many factors and sensors, so use the 10% or 15% features at your own risk.
Users will see speed limits for the sectors they are driving on without having to change anything. If the speed limit is exceeded, a visual alert will be shown on the screen, in the area of the Waze speedometer. The warning remains present until the measured speed drops below the limit on that segment.
The first countries to get Waze’s new feature are Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad, Tobago, and Uruguay.
The rest of the world will also receive it soon. It all depends on the support of the 360,000 global volunteers who have been working on this for the past few months and have introduced Verified speed limits on the Map Editor.
Since we are members of a Waze user-group, we can inform you that there is a possibility to add this feature on your account today, even if you are not in one of the countries mentioned above.
All you have to do is write ##@debugspeed into the address search form, and the function will be activated. From that point, the Speed Limit function will be available in the Settings menu. However, speed limits will only be shown in the areas where Map Editors have place information. Otherwise, the system might not indicate a correct speed limit on the screen of your device.
Since this is an app that takes user preference into account, users can customize the alert to appear if the velocity limit is reached, or if it is exceeded by five, ten, or 15%.
These percentages are not random, as some countries allow drivers to go faster than the speed limit without a ticket if they do not exceed it by a certain percentage.
We must note that this new feature works with the GPS on your phone and requires a data connection. From personal experience, we feel the need to inform you that the speedometer is not entirely accurate, as it involves many factors and sensors, so use the 10% or 15% features at your own risk.
Users will see speed limits for the sectors they are driving on without having to change anything. If the speed limit is exceeded, a visual alert will be shown on the screen, in the area of the Waze speedometer. The warning remains present until the measured speed drops below the limit on that segment.
The first countries to get Waze’s new feature are Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad, Tobago, and Uruguay.
The rest of the world will also receive it soon. It all depends on the support of the 360,000 global volunteers who have been working on this for the past few months and have introduced Verified speed limits on the Map Editor.
Since we are members of a Waze user-group, we can inform you that there is a possibility to add this feature on your account today, even if you are not in one of the countries mentioned above.
All you have to do is write ##@debugspeed into the address search form, and the function will be activated. From that point, the Speed Limit function will be available in the Settings menu. However, speed limits will only be shown in the areas where Map Editors have place information. Otherwise, the system might not indicate a correct speed limit on the screen of your device.
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