South Africa Suggestions

Map Editors Community South Africa
1

In South Africa we have some specific problems that would be nice if we could report it on Waze to other drivers. These issues include:

  1. Traffic Lights being out (sometimes they’re also short-timing or one of the phases are being skipped) and this creates a lot of traffic build-up up to that traffic light. The reporting process could be the same as for Hazards.
  2. Dangerous Areas need to be avoided by some people. Non-locals are especially at risk because they don’t know which areas to avoid. As a local, when Waze tells you to take a certain turn-off, you can choose to ignore it if you know you’re being directed into a dangerous area. Waze would suggest this route because the traffic through that area is very light (for obvious reasons) and non-locals would be forced to drive through an area where they feel very unsafe but they can’t hide their phone because they need it to navigate out of the area. It would be great if Map Editors can mark dangerous areas that need to be avoided and that a route preference could be to avoid these dangerous areas.
  3. We have been experiencing bouts of protests where drivers should avoid the area completely. If current road users or map editors are able to temporarily mark areas where protests are taking place so that it can be avoided by drivers, it would save drivers from expensive insurance claims due to bricks being thrown through their windows.

I understand these changes are not easy to implement at all, but please keep the suggestions in mind when you’re working on your next release. Number 2 and 3 could save lives if implemented correctly.

Thank you,

2

For number three - it is possible to do as long as you have a level three editor that you can contact to put in a “real time closure”.

For one - this is something that has been suggested and brought up here.

Number two, however, is I believe far too subjective to properly put into place =/.

3

With regards to numbers two and three… Both can be implemented.

I’m not 100% sure whether preferred vs non-preferred routing is working but the option is certainly there. I assume you mean something along the lines of avoiding being routed through Diepsloot?

As far as roads being closed due to protests go, we can do this instantly. We just need to know about them. In fact Wazers can report the closures themselves directly from the app (on a smaller scale) If you do happen to come across a road that needs to be closed you’re welcome to message me or another one of the senior SA editors to implement the closure. You’ll likely get the quickest response on Slack.