Hi, as a new Waze user, there is one question bugging me. I’m assuming that when I get a warning such as “pot hole in Road” or “vehicle on hard shoulder” these have been reported by Waze users. My question is, when these hazards are clear, who removes the report? I was driving home from Birmingham to South Wales last night, and out of three reports, only one was valid. Thanks
There are 2 way user-generate reports get cleared.
One is time-based. The reports have a set lifetime which varies. I can’t give you the exact figures (because I can’t remember where to even look for them :oops: ), but it might be something like 30 minutes for a car stopped on shoulder or 5 days for a pothole.
The other thing that effects them is the interaction of other users. If you tap on the “not there” for a hazard report, that reduces the amount of time it will live for; tapping the thanks icon increases it.
Unfortunately there’s no way to educate the thousands of people who use Waze, so the justification for making reports varies wildly. Some people will report a 4-inch patch of damaged tarmac as a pothole; some will report a vehicle pulling away as “stopped on the shoulder”. Particularly common is reports of “police” made for moving police vehicles.
However, these reports have no effect on Waze’s estimates of traffic speed or routing. They’re just information for the driver. I’d rather be warned and be alert when there’s nothing there than encounter a large pothole with no warning. 
Pretty close Iain - when we reviewed them for the UK last year they were set to:
- Vehicle on shoulder: 30 mins
- Vehicle/object on road: 1 hour
- Pothole on road: 7 days
If somebody confirms the pothole by giving it a thumbs up, does that reset the 7 days? There are pothole reports on my commute which never ever ever ever ever ever disappear, they have been there for months…
Edit: the potholes themselves also never disappear.
It definitely extends the duration, but I’m not sure if it’s as simple as resetting the 7 days or whether there’s a more complicated algorithm involved.
BTW One of the reasons of reviewing it last year is that potholes were previsouly set to 1 day -
totally pointless given the fact it usually takes weeks if not months. So 7 days is an improvement, but yes, I would be sooo happy if my local councils ever acted that quickly!