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from the shortest-distance-between-two-points dept.
An L.A. Councilman is attempting to blame the application Waze for neighborhood "cut-throughs", where people divert to side streets during traffic congestion.
In his view this is a new phenomenon that has never happened before, although it is widespread around the world and has been so for many years, certainly existing long before 'apps' became popular. The councilor is planning on using a data sharing agreement with Waze in order to strong-arm the application into becoming less useful, which will not solve the problem because people will just use other applications, and those with local knowledge will still know the quickest route from A to B.
The popularity of Waze is largely because it helps drivers avoid delays and to find alternative routes based on the the reports received from other drivers. Applying the measures that the councilor is hoping for will neuter the app completely, rendering it pointless. However, the councilor does make one good point - there are more pedestrian safety facilities (e.g. crossing points, barriers etc) on major routes and that the practice might lead to increased casualty rates in residential areas.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by epl on Thursday April 30 2015, @10:45AM
stop taking bribes and filling their own wallets andstart thinking a few more years into the future and offering alternative ways for people to get where they need to go. I take the car to work, not because I want to, but because getting there by other means e.g. public transport will take forever-and-a-day each way. All of our larger cities have roads that are already filled to, or beyond, capacity, limiting the number of routes over them will not solve the problem in the long term.