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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) by Common Joe on Thursday April 30 2015, @01:47PM
When we lived back in the States, we had problems with through-traffic in our 150-house neighborhood despite signs prohibiting such. There was a north and south entrance / exit. The home owners association looked into blocking off one of those entrances, but the politicians didn't like because it was prohibited for fire truck reasons. (Actually, it was a law. No neighborhood could have fewer than two entrances / exits. It made it harder for the fire trucks to get to the fires.) It was an interesting reason and one I could certainly understand.