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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Well, I did not feel offended (not much ;)) so I guess we’re fine…
But I still see things a little different. You are right, that hazards do not relate to a delay in routing, Waze will still calculate the same ETA. But you mentioned yourself that you want other wazers to be “alert and cautious”. Maybe I’m a bit old-school, but when I drive espacially cautiously because I’m alert of something (such as playing children on the roadside) I tend to drive slower than usual, being prepared to do a full stop if necessary. So even though the traffic can flow at regular speed, the risk of a slowdown in areas with hazardous situations is higher. Waze won’t compute that but I do. When I see a hazard ahead on the map and there is an alternative route around that hazard (of which I know that it causes only minor delay), I will prefer that second route.
That’s why I don’t report things that have nothing to do with the line of cars rushing alongside. Over here shoulders on freeways are relatively wide (minimum: 2.5m (>8ft) Yes, we have prescriptions for everything). When a car has stopped there, is properly secured, and the driver is wearing the prescribed flashy, orange vest and is standing far away from the vehicle and the freeway, I don’t see why I (or others) shouldn’t pass that place at 200km/h without being more cautious than any other time I drive that fast. The probability that a second car has to stop in exactly the same location is neglectably low, so it doesn’t tell me reasons for warning other wazers of that harmless situation. The risk when looking at my phone at 120mph to read a hazard report is higher than just flying by.
I often see people who stop on the side on the road just to answer their phones. (In my opinion hardly better than phoning while driving…) They pose a risk by parking way too close to the road or even halfway on the road, but I know that they will probably be driving again by the time I’m finished with submitting the hazard report, so there’s no use in reporting the hazard.
Remember the story of the boy who cried wolf? Reporting every flat-run hedgehog as hazard will make people become ignorant to real hazard reports. That why I try to report only stuff that requires special actions like driving slower or maintaining a certain lateral distance to the hazardous things.
Regards,
Gordonski
I agree with most of your points but as to cars on the shoulder, the problem with not reporting them is that they could decide to start moving again at any point in time. I’ve seen people attempt to pull back into traffic without attempting to accelerate back to speed before trying to merge or without even looking back to make sure they can get in. They just assume (very wrongly) that the traffic has to make way for them.
For the most part a broken down or otherwise stopped car is a very minor hazard to traffic flow if sufficiently off the travel lanes. But they can be a significant hazard by their very presence. Thus they should be reported. If not broken down they could become an instant hazard as they try to return to the road, if broken down, they could become a real hazard when a tow truck arrives to pick them up, or if someone is trying to fix them. I’ve heard of people losing control of spare tires as they attempted to lift them out of the trunk, the tire slips from their grasp and suddenly there is a moving hazard bouncing and rolling across the lanes.
Also the warning should be popping up on the phone early enough for the driver to glance at the screen, see the warning and look back up with several hundred meters before getting to the hazard, thus gaining time to be prepared for a possible issue. This is far better than just cruising along and maybe subconsciously noting the object on the side of the road but being greatly surprised when it or some part of it lunges into your lane of travel.
So I intend to keep on reporting them, and appreciate when others do as well.
I suspect the difference in opinion has to do with the number of wazers in your area. When I get a route home from work and the bar comes up showing where the hazards on my route are it is occasionally completely covered with alerts so that I can only see the symbol on the last one. The others are stacked under the last so tightly you can’t see what they are. There might be a hundred on my commute home. It is simply not at all useful to me to receive reports for everything that could become a hazard as here that results in a steady stream of alerts. It would be much more useful to me if people only reported things that actually are hazards.
So, I think what makes a great driver is his ability to judge and anticipate not just his actions, but also of those around him. I like knowing ahead of time of hazards. It prepares me to anticipate things that could otherwise catch me off guard. I definitely leave extra distance between myself and the car in front of me when I know there is a hazard ahead. You never know when the driver in front of you will slam on brakes. Besides, my wife knows someone who lost his legs because he was hit by a car when he was assisting someone else on the shoulder.
That pothole in a road 2000 feet from now may not be deep enough to cause any damage and 1000 cars will drive right over it without a problem, but I’d rather know about it in case someone else is cut off guard and decides to drive around it right into my lane.
Those geese eating in the grass next to the road, I’d rather know about it because I’d feel rather bad killing one if it decides to cross a road.
Etc, etc, blah, blah, blah 
I write too much.
Sounds like it’s time to complain to your DOT about the condition of the roads that are causing that many breakdowns. 
My wife thinks I have the same disease.