I notice that Waze creates road segments with U-turns disallowed by default. Well, in California, U-turns are ALLOWED by default, at all intersections, unless:
There is a “no U-turn” sign
At the entrance to a fire station
There is less than 200’ visibility (so unable to see oncoming cars)
In residential districts, or where there is a center two-way turn lane, you can even make a U-turn legally in the middle of a block. These middle-of-the block situations would be very difficult to teach Waze, but, EVERY EDITOR SHOULD MAKE U-TURNS ALLOWED BY DEFAULT AT EVERY INTERSECTION THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA, unless there is an explicit reason not to (e.g. a “no U-turn” sign or a fire station). It is far easier to create all CA intersections with U-turns allowed and then fix the very few where they are not than the other way around! Relevant sections of California Vehicle Code:
665.5, 21451, 22100.5, 22102-22105
Note that “intersection” is defined quite broadly (basically, whenever two roads come together roughly at right angles, or in such a way that there is a risk of collision between vehicles travelling on them):
An “intersection” is the area embraced within the prolongations of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways, of two highways which join one another at approximately right angles or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict.
While the map editor supports u-turns, the app does not. When or if the app ever does, they could be enabled. Until then, there is no visual or vocal guidance for the driver. Note the lack of instruction for this enabled u-turn, and how only the next turn (behind the driver left in three miles) is provided.
Thanks, I didn’t know that. I seem to recall being directed to take U-turns, but that may have been by Google maps before I learned about Waze. Doesn’t it make sense to create new intersections in compliance with the law (i.e. with U-turns allowed) as an editing best practice, rather than to have to go back and change every intersection in the State when the app supports U-turns?
Waze does somewhat effectively route U-turns on roads which are split (two sets of one-way segments running in opposite directions). In these cases, depending on the structure of the intersection, Waze will give either a single left turn instruction, or two, and you can see a visual representation of the U-turn on screen. This does not require enabling any U-turn arrows on segments. The arrows, and app prompts, are just regular ones for left turns.
You’re not the first to make this point, because it’s a good one, in terms of the amount of editing work that will be involved in eventually enabling every allowed U-turn. BUT, because the app does half-way support U-turns (in the strange manner displayed in the screenshot by davielde), we are stuck in a situation where enabling them on the map leads to VERY confusing route instructions, which is one of the main things that we as editors try to avoid.
Here’s an example from my own experience. I was headed southbound on Crenshaw Blvd. On my approach to 120th street, Waze told me the following: “Take a left at 120th St, and then Take a Right at Crenshaw Blvd.” WHAT?!? I’m ON Crenshaw Blvd. I look down at the screen, and the only route I can see hangs a left on 120th, goes about a block, and stops, with no turn prompt at the end of it. Well, I’m an experienced Waze, and it didn’t take me more than a second or two to figure out what was going on, but what if it were my mother driving somewhere and getting that baffling instruction? It just doesn’t work, and therefore, we need to keep at least most of these U-turn arrows on two-way segments disabled. It would be better, while we wait for proper U-turn support, if Waze just didn’t route them in the app at all, but I don’t think they want to break something that will be part of an upcoming feature.
I dis-allow u-turns in residential areas all the time. If you have a RV, or anything that is big, even some SUV have pour turning radius. I would rather get instruction to go around the block then a u-turn. We have been making sure that U-turns on major Blvds are enabled correctly.
Thanks, folks, these answers are very helpful. I disagree about large vehicles, though; if you drive a semi, RV, or bus, not all roads and not all turns will be navigable. Restricting the vast majority of drivers so as not to inconvenience those few driving large vehicles doesn’t make sense to me.
I’ve been turning this statement over in my head for a couple of days, and I’m still confused. Did you mean to say that we ARE supposed to be setting U Turn arrows green on unsplit roads, or are you simply saying that, when we have an already split road, it’s important to make sure Real Life U Turns are properly reflected in Waze?
This is really useful, thanks, the bit of State code I had in my head restricted U-turns only to situations involving a protected left. But the California DMV Driver Handbook section on turns confirms what purposeguy says, although it expands on it a bit, see below.
It should be noted that the actual wording in the CA V.C. indicates that a U-Turn does NOT have to be one continuous move, thus including such things as three-point turns (and any iteration thereof) under this category.
Yes, the CVC definitions of “U-turn” and “intersection” are quite broad, as are the range of situations in which a U-turn is allowed. I plan to keep enabling U-turns at all intersections where it is legal (which is most of them), in anticipation of Waze eventually adding support for them.
Ummm, you might want to check that parallel discussion going on over in the wiki updates forum. I agree wholeheartedly with your motives, but given what appears to be the current state of the Waze app and routing engine, enabling piles of U-turns may not lead to drivers having good experiences with Waze. I’d urge you to stand down from this effort temporarily but stay tuned.
Okay, after reviewing other posts on this topic, I have seen the error of my ways. The current policy, as I understand it, is NEVER to allow U-turns, even when they are legal, to avoid routing problems they can cause in the client (which still doesn’t support U-turns). More on this topic here: https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=276&t=98334
So, I am now disallowing U-turns wherever I find them. I look forward to enabling them when the software is ready.
He made a comment a couple of weeks ago about enabling u-turns during the LA Map Raid, and at a mini-meetup last August another local L6 indicated that they should be enabled.
App support may be coming sooner rather than later. There is a TTS instruction MP3 for “make a u-turn” in 3.9.2 and 3.9.3
We have reason to believe that we should stop actively disallowing U-turns. No promises, and no predictions, but maybe this advice will give you some hope, coming from someone who has previously strongly made the case for restricting U-turns in Waze, even when legal… Stay tuned…
Per tonestertm (CA State Manager), “U-turns have now been enabled in the Android production version of the app for almost 3 weeks, with iOS to follow, shortly.” Yay, finally, the vaporware is hitting the street! I tested it on Android and it worked.
Remember, U-turns are legal at NEARLY all intersections in CA, but not all! Be sure to measure visibility distance and check the Google street view for “no U-turn” signs. See the first post in this thread for restrictions. And, an “intersection” is where two roads “join one another at approximately right angles or… join at any other angle [at which vehicles] may come in conflict.”
Note that U-turns can be represented by a green U-turn arrow in a simple intersection, but also by different means in bowtie, box, and other intersection geometries. These other configurations probably won’t use the term “U-turn” in the verbal instructions, though.