6 ms·

I stopped using Waze (I live in Los Angeles) because it would give a slightly faster route with unprotected left turns that was riskier, more stressful, and ult

by gav 4y ago

I stopped using Waze (I live in Los Angeles) because it would give a slightly faster route with unprotected left turns that was riskier, more stressful, and ultimately not much faster in reality.

three_seagrass 4y ago
>riskier, more stressful, and ultimately not much faster in reality I used to think the same until we A/B tested it a few times (Maps/Waze) with different cars going to the same destination. Waze really was faster very time.
- jonny_eh 4y ago
  I wonder why can't Google Maps use the same routing, even as an option?
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    Because city planners would start blocking off side streets if a huge product like google maps was directing people through them.
  - xyzelement 4y ago
    I had wondered about that before. My guess is that Google considers Waze and Maps users to be different type of "navigators", with Waze being a self-selecting group of folks who want crazy routes to shave a few seconds here and there, while the Maps users are more mainstream and just want a sensible route with options. So they may have hesitated to give the "crazy" option to them. Another thing, I suspect there's a significant resource cost in constantly re-evaluating these few-second saving opportunities that may not scale well to the size of Map's user base. Could be wrong here.
    - sgloutnikov 4y ago
      I am exactly one of those users which you describe and only use Waze for long trips and Maps for the rest. Waze urban navigation drives me crazy with the route it picks sometimes, hoping of shaving off a few seconds.
- nottorp 4y ago
  Yep, I use Waze to run around my city at peak traffic because its traffic info is somehow better and it manages to pick a fast ish route every time. From personal experience, i've regretted ignoring waze because "i live here and know better" every time at rush hour.
WirelessGigabit 4y ago
Friend of mine lives in South Pasadena. He mentions that since Waze he has a lot more traffic on the road behind his house, just people cutting through to save 30 seconds!
- carom 4y ago
  Oh no! The public using a public road!
  - ganbatekudasai 4y ago
    You're right, but I don't think there's any reason for the sarcasm. People are allowed to personally lament actions of others, while fully realizing and even supporting that they are legal. And even hope for circumstances changing, like I'm fully allowed to complain about the rain and wish for sunshine, without someone putting me down with "Oh no! A functioning ecosystem doing its job!". People would even be allowed to try to effect change. In this case, it would mean weighing saving a likely insignificant amount of time for a subset of people, against residents of the street dealing with constant traffic. What is "fair" depends on the exact circumstances, but taken at face value, I suspect if one were to effect regulation such that speed bumps are added, or through traffic prohibited, or the path being made less convenient, then almost none of the insignificant-time-savers would even notice much. They'd take the new suggested route and be likely just as happy.
    - carom 4y ago
      There are a lot of roads in LA that are gated or just dead end. [1,2,3] They drive me insane. It effectively makes a gated community and I doubt the property tax revenue covers the tax dollars that go into these neighborhoods. Roads are a public good and they should be usable by the public. I am fine with the alternative where we privatize them and let the cost of ownership and maintenance fall on the residents, once they're footing the entire bill they can choose who drives on the roads. The sarcasm will continue until the NIMBYs improve. 1. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0473537,-118.3282794,78m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0473537,-118.3282794,78m/dat... 2. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0448801,-118.3296309,60m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0448801,-118.3296309,60m/dat... 3. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0593371,-118.3293991,73m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0593371,-118.3293991,73m/dat...
crftr 4y ago
In L.A., I'll keep Waze open for the speed trap reports but I'll ignore the turn-by-turn directions.
- asdff 4y ago
  I'm surprised you've seen a speed trap at all in LA county to be honest
  - tcoff91 4y ago
    Given the amount of drunk drivers i see on the road in LA now i don’t know if they enforce that, let alone the speed limit.
    - ryantgtg 4y ago
      They do not seem to. Not for speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving, etc. There’s basically no traffic enforcement here. When was the last time you’ve seen a driver pulled over on a surface street? I think I’ve seen one in the last 10 years.

by gav 4y ago

I stopped using Waze (I live in Los Angeles) because it would give a slightly faster route with unprotected left turns that was riskier, more stressful, and ultimately not much faster in reality.

three_seagrass 4y ago

>riskier, more stressful, and ultimately not much faster in reality I used to think the same until we A/B tested it a few times (Maps/Waze) with different cars going to the same destination. Waze really was faster very time.

jonny_eh 4y ago
I wonder why can't Google Maps use the same routing, even as an option?
- Gigachad 4y ago
  Because city planners would start blocking off side streets if a huge product like google maps was directing people through them.
- xyzelement 4y ago
  I had wondered about that before. My guess is that Google considers Waze and Maps users to be different type of "navigators", with Waze being a self-selecting group of folks who want crazy routes to shave a few seconds here and there, while the Maps users are more mainstream and just want a sensible route with options. So they may have hesitated to give the "crazy" option to them. Another thing, I suspect there's a significant resource cost in constantly re-evaluating these few-second saving opportunities that may not scale well to the size of Map's user base. Could be wrong here.
  - sgloutnikov 4y ago
    I am exactly one of those users which you describe and only use Waze for long trips and Maps for the rest. Waze urban navigation drives me crazy with the route it picks sometimes, hoping of shaving off a few seconds.
nottorp 4y ago
Yep, I use Waze to run around my city at peak traffic because its traffic info is somehow better and it manages to pick a fast ish route every time. From personal experience, i've regretted ignoring waze because "i live here and know better" every time at rush hour.

WirelessGigabit 4y ago

Friend of mine lives in South Pasadena. He mentions that since Waze he has a lot more traffic on the road behind his house, just people cutting through to save 30 seconds!

carom 4y ago
Oh no! The public using a public road!
- ganbatekudasai 4y ago
  You're right, but I don't think there's any reason for the sarcasm. People are allowed to personally lament actions of others, while fully realizing and even supporting that they are legal. And even hope for circumstances changing, like I'm fully allowed to complain about the rain and wish for sunshine, without someone putting me down with "Oh no! A functioning ecosystem doing its job!". People would even be allowed to try to effect change. In this case, it would mean weighing saving a likely insignificant amount of time for a subset of people, against residents of the street dealing with constant traffic. What is "fair" depends on the exact circumstances, but taken at face value, I suspect if one were to effect regulation such that speed bumps are added, or through traffic prohibited, or the path being made less convenient, then almost none of the insignificant-time-savers would even notice much. They'd take the new suggested route and be likely just as happy.
  - carom 4y ago
    There are a lot of roads in LA that are gated or just dead end. [1,2,3] They drive me insane. It effectively makes a gated community and I doubt the property tax revenue covers the tax dollars that go into these neighborhoods. Roads are a public good and they should be usable by the public. I am fine with the alternative where we privatize them and let the cost of ownership and maintenance fall on the residents, once they're footing the entire bill they can choose who drives on the roads. The sarcasm will continue until the NIMBYs improve. 1. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0473537,-118.3282794,78m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0473537,-118.3282794,78m/dat... 2. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0448801,-118.3296309,60m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0448801,-118.3296309,60m/dat... 3. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0593371,-118.3293991,73m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0593371,-118.3293991,73m/dat...

crftr 4y ago

In L.A., I'll keep Waze open for the speed trap reports but I'll ignore the turn-by-turn directions.

asdff 4y ago
I'm surprised you've seen a speed trap at all in LA county to be honest
- tcoff91 4y ago
  Given the amount of drunk drivers i see on the road in LA now i don’t know if they enforce that, let alone the speed limit.
  - ryantgtg 4y ago
    They do not seem to. Not for speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving, etc. There’s basically no traffic enforcement here. When was the last time you’ve seen a driver pulled over on a surface street? I think I’ve seen one in the last 10 years.