I’ve noticed a few spurious reports of traffic over the months and the other day I figured out what it is. If you drive over a segment at (say) 11mph, Waze thinks you are in traffic and automatically reports a traffic jam.
However, for some roads, 11mph is an appropriate speed, so instead of reporting traffic, Waze should be changing the average speed for the segment. The trigger speed seems to be 20mph or thereabouts, because I’ve seen the same thing happen at 16mph (18 too I think - not sure about that one).
This must be a FAQ because of course there are many roads all over the world where you can’t drive above 20 for whatever reason (indeed, many city streets in the UK now have a 20mph speed limit) but I’m sorry I can’t find other mentions of this issue by searching the board.
Over time, as more people use Waze and this road is more traveled (in Waze), Waze will adjust the normal speed for the road segments. They keep speed history in 10-minute averages. Eventually, the math will auto-adjust and 11mph will not be considered slow for that time of day.
OK I get it. Thanks. It’s just that by their very nature some of these routes are hardly ever travelled by wazers (indeed, I’m often the first one) so this process could, I suppose, take years.