An observation on WAZE app
This past weekend I visited family in the Washington DC area.
On Saturday morning, we decided to try to visit Virginia Beach, along with a few million other travelers.
Rolling along on I-95 at 5-10 miles per hour, Waze reported over 16,000 fellow wazers traveling the same road in a 1 mile radius. I had hoped waze would help me find an alternative route to my destination, but it offered no help in that regard. Instead, the app appeared to be aggravating congestion.
Every time the app shouted "WATCH OUT! blah blah blah" warning of a car on the shoulder or police ahead, hundreds of brake lights flickered in unison. I was shocked. The sheep drivers around me were all synchronized to their cell phones and panic breaking every time an app told them to. This panic braking created waves / ripple effect that slowed the entire traffic column down.
Not once did the app actually warn about anything dangerous - none of the cars on the shoulders were blocking traffic. They were just junkers that had overheated from driving at 10 miles an hour in 90 degree weather or people stopping for a break due and VDOT not giving them anywhere to pull off but on the narrow shoulder.
Overall, I'm not impressed by the app. The few other times I used it, it didn't offer any improved routing over that which my stand alone Garmin or Google Maps would offer, which are both connected to real-time traffic. Not sure why Google offers two navigation apps. I hope Google doesn't intend for Waze to take over from Maps, that would be terrible.
On Saturday morning, we decided to try to visit Virginia Beach, along with a few million other travelers.
Rolling along on I-95 at 5-10 miles per hour, Waze reported over 16,000 fellow wazers traveling the same road in a 1 mile radius. I had hoped waze would help me find an alternative route to my destination, but it offered no help in that regard. Instead, the app appeared to be aggravating congestion.
Every time the app shouted "WATCH OUT! blah blah blah" warning of a car on the shoulder or police ahead, hundreds of brake lights flickered in unison. I was shocked. The sheep drivers around me were all synchronized to their cell phones and panic breaking every time an app told them to. This panic braking created waves / ripple effect that slowed the entire traffic column down.
Not once did the app actually warn about anything dangerous - none of the cars on the shoulders were blocking traffic. They were just junkers that had overheated from driving at 10 miles an hour in 90 degree weather or people stopping for a break due and VDOT not giving them anywhere to pull off but on the narrow shoulder.
Overall, I'm not impressed by the app. The few other times I used it, it didn't offer any improved routing over that which my stand alone Garmin or Google Maps would offer, which are both connected to real-time traffic. Not sure why Google offers two navigation apps. I hope Google doesn't intend for Waze to take over from Maps, that would be terrible.
