If the road is red, stay alert for what’s up ahead
Not all roads are created equal — some are twisty unbanked sections with poorly patched potholes, while others are straight, flat freeways. We rely on the best navigation apps to traverse terrains, but some roads can be more treacherous than others to navigate. Google-owned navigation app Waze has a community-sourced solution in mind for this: alerts for drivers as they approach sections where people have crashed frequently in the past.
Waze is already quite helpful, providing you with community-provided information like the location of speed cameras and cops parked along the freeways. There are also fun options like seasonal themes. Israeli tech blog Geektime recently spotted Waze beta testing a new feature alerting users if its community data shows the road they are approaching is a hotspot for accidents and crashes. Waze will share the length of the dangerous stretch with you. Additionally, such roads are colored red in the app interface, so you can get your guard up, even if you just glance at the app while driving.
These “History of crashes” alerts are completely optional, meaning you can turn them off under the Notifications and reports section of Waze settings. A new section called History of traffic accidents should be added to this settings page when the feature rolls out widely. The report also claims Waze won’t alert you if you frequent a risky road, perhaps to avoid repetition, keep your anxiety levels down, and because it trusts you to know the dangers.
When a public rollout could be expected is anybody’s guess, but we are hopeful because this feature could save lives, prevent damage to property, and make roads safer for everyone using Waze. So, make sure you’re running winter tires, driving safely, and using Waze to stay wary of the cliff-side hairpins during snowstorms.
