Waze Is Looking To Reduce Difficult Left Turns In Traffic

Waze is a popular navigation app that is able to give you the shortest distance between two places and the route it takes isn't always a straight line. The app will route you along any twist or turn that will get you there fastest and sometimes those turns leave drivers more than a little nervous. Particularly the so-called "Waze left" that has drivers trying to make a difficult left turn across traffic to stay on route.

Waze has been studying how to limit those cross traffic left turns in its app to make drivers safer and more comfortable behind the wheel. The move is a response to complaints by users and what Waze terms "pushback in the press."

While Waze has confirmed that the change is being investigated, the company points out that no change to the app is imminent. Waze contributes some map data to Google maps, but is a separate app. The big features of Waze is crowd sourced data on driving conditions and it's known for aggressive directions that can have difficult aspects to them.

Those left hand turns across traffic are the most difficult part. The concern from drivers is real, unprotected left turns are some of the most common place where drivers will have accidents. The trick Waze has to pull off is not limiting its directions too much while protecting drivers from those Waze Left turns.

SOURCE: QZ.com