Workers on Road Hazard

[luefher]

I think it could be good if you guys add a "Workers on Road" hazard alert to the app - for things like when trees are trimmed or potholes are taken care of. It's not construction, but it is "on road" kind of alert that may slow you down.

[gordonski]

Does that have any other influence on traffic flow than construction?
I usually mark this kind of stuff as construction, but only if it potentially slows down traffic, i.e. there's something happening "on road".

I'd say repairing streets in terms of taking care of potholes is some sort of construction: the road's surface is being rebuilt/reconstructed.

The problem is that the application might become unclear when there are hundreds of hazards to report, e.g. pothole fixing, road mark painting, rail repairing, traffic light repairing, traffic sign setup, tree trimming, tire on road, plank on road, dead animal on road, metal piece on road, tree on road, when all these could just be referred to as "raodwork in progress" (i.e. construction) or "object on road" (Java-developer: "everything is an object"). As a driver I only need to know that there's is something I should be aware of, such as road workers. I don't need be bothered with what exactly they are doing there, how many they are, what age they are, or what's their zodiac sign. Just keep it simple...

Gordonski

[mpawlicki]

Sorry, but your explanation above is completely baseless and wrong. Reporting hazards has nothing to do with speeds. Reporting hazards does not mean the travel time is now longer. You report hazards to warn others. So, if you see workers, hit that Report button and warn others.
Now, if you're slowed down in traffic due to construction, car on shoulder, animals, or other hazards, that's another story. The app knows how fast you're traveling. It uses your data to calculate routes for others. But just because you report a hazard it doesn't mean that it will now start sending people behind you another way.

[daknife]

If there are human workers on the shoulder, it gets reported by me as construction, even if it isn't. That warning is what is needed, construction means "High likelihood of human targets running around on the road so be careful." So why isn't that appropriate for tree trimmers or the like?

We only have so many options or the feature becomes so unwieldy as to be useless. Now I am for eliminating the "Roadkill" option as road kill is still an "Object in road" and should fall under that category, but not to add the superfluous report item you are suggesting. Construction works fine.

[crazycomputingdotnet]

We only have so many options or the feature becomes so unwieldy as to be useless. Now I am for eliminating the "Roadkill" option as road kill is still an "Object in road" and should fall under that category, but not to add the superfluous report item you are suggesting. Construction works fine.

The only time I mark roadkill vs object on the road is if it is a skunk. Roadkill should be changed to skunk that way you know you really need to avoid hitting it with your tires. Otherwise even something like a moose or elk would be considered object on road.

[mmbe]

If there are workers around, you can always mark it as construction and then write in what lane is closed (if applicable) when it is safe to do so. As mentioned, its not necessarily whats causing the traffic, but how its affecting traffic.

[CBenson]

Sorry, but your explanation above is completely baseless and wrong. Reporting hazards has nothing to do with speeds. Reporting hazards does not mean the travel time is now longer. You report hazards to warn others. So, if you see workers, hit that Report button and warn others.

I disagree (in other words I agree with gordonski). He said he only marks things that potentially slow down traffic. That's what I do as well. I think this advice is well founded. If you see workers that have no effect on the traffic flow and you hit that Report button and warn others, what are you warning them of? Seems to me to be just map clutter.

[AndyPoms]

Sorry, but your explanation above is completely baseless and wrong. Reporting hazards has nothing to do with speeds. Reporting hazards does not mean the travel time is now longer. You report hazards to warn others. So, if you see workers, hit that Report button and warn others.

I disagree (in other words I agree with gordonski). He said he only marks things that potentially slow down traffic. That's what I do as well. I think this advice is well founded. If you see workers that have no effect on the traffic flow and you hit that Report button and warn others, what are you warning them of? Seems to me to be just map clutter.

In most states one must slow down and/or move over for road work (and police, and fire, etc) - it's the law... Having that report, even if it's just the shoulder closed, has benefits...

[CBenson]

Sorry, but your explanation above is completely baseless and wrong. Reporting hazards has nothing to do with speeds. Reporting hazards does not mean the travel time is now longer. You report hazards to warn others. So, if you see workers, hit that Report button and warn others.

I disagree (in other words I agree with gordonski). He said he only marks things that potentially slow down traffic. That's what I do as well. I think this advice is well founded. If you see workers that have no effect on the traffic flow and you hit that Report button and warn others, what are you warning them of? Seems to me to be just map clutter.

In most states one must slow down and/or move over for road work (and police, and fire, etc) - it's the law... Having that report, even if it's just the shoulder closed, has benefits...

I'm not saying I don't report workers on the shoulder. However, I see many reports for hazards including construction that have no impact whatsoever to the traffic. For example, a bulldozer that has been parked well off the road for months with no indication that its going to be doing any construction work anytime soon I don't think should be reported, yet it almost always is marked when I drive by it (sometimes as construction, sometimes as car stopped on shoulder).
I was simply reacting to the use of the term "completely baseless and wrong" to refer to gordonski's advice to report all construction related activities that potentially slow down traffic as a construction hazard (with the implication that if the activity has no potential to effect the traffic it should go unreported). I think that's good advice.

[mpawlicki]

Ugh...
There is a reason there is a button to report a traffic jam and a separate button to report a hazard. A hazard does not necessarily cause a traffic jam. If I am driving in a middle of a night in a middle of nowhere and there is a car on shoulder, I will report it so that the next person driving 20 minutes behind me is alert and cautious. My action to report the hazard is to prevent accidents.
The reason I used terms "completely baseless and wrong" is because that post hints that reporting a hazard somehow alerts Waze of a traffic slowdown, which is not true. You anonymous data and usage statistics transmitted to the Waze servers do.
If Waze send me down a particular route because it is faster than another, it's because it knows how fast Wazers are travelling on these routes. It doesn't case how many times you hit that "Hazard" button, it means nothing in respect to travel time.
I think people should report legit hazards to caution other drivers, and report jams when they are stuck in traffic, or both if that is the case.
By the way, no disrespect was meant to gordonski.