Sharp/Slow turns are not "Difficult"
With the recent spate of sharp turn map problems, I have seen an editing mistake quite a few times now. In Waze, a "difficult" turn is nothing to do with how sharp a turn is.
A Waze difficult turn is a turn that can be dangerous or distressing to make. For example, turning right across 3 or more lanes of oncoming traffic without traffic lights at the junction or a "keep clear" area across the lanes, or similar way to make the turn easier.
The difficult turn concept was introduced mainly in response to requests from the US, where such turns are common. In the UK, they are far rarer since we tend to have better-designed junctions and far fewer multi-lane roads. A difficult turn introduces a time penalty - over and above any historical information that will already have recorded how slow the turn is.
A sharp turn is not a Waze difficult turn. We still want HQ to supply better vehicle type modelling, but they don't and they probably never will. If a turn is genuinely too sharp for the average car to make it, then put in a red arrow. If a car can reasonable make it then leave it green. but please do not mark it as a difficult turn.
As for whether difficult turns are useful in the UK, that's another question. My personal opinion is that it will very rarely be useful. Up until a few months ago, I would have said utterly useless - but the addition of the ability to define the hours when a turn is difficult has made them usable, since the difficulty depends entirely on traffic.
If you really feel you need to mark a difficult turn, then I suggest you also leave a map comment to explain it. But remember, neither sharp turns, or slow turns are "difficult" turns.
A Waze difficult turn is a turn that can be dangerous or distressing to make. For example, turning right across 3 or more lanes of oncoming traffic without traffic lights at the junction or a "keep clear" area across the lanes, or similar way to make the turn easier.
The difficult turn concept was introduced mainly in response to requests from the US, where such turns are common. In the UK, they are far rarer since we tend to have better-designed junctions and far fewer multi-lane roads. A difficult turn introduces a time penalty - over and above any historical information that will already have recorded how slow the turn is.
A sharp turn is not a Waze difficult turn. We still want HQ to supply better vehicle type modelling, but they don't and they probably never will. If a turn is genuinely too sharp for the average car to make it, then put in a red arrow. If a car can reasonable make it then leave it green. but please do not mark it as a difficult turn.
As for whether difficult turns are useful in the UK, that's another question. My personal opinion is that it will very rarely be useful. Up until a few months ago, I would have said utterly useless - but the addition of the ability to define the hours when a turn is difficult has made them usable, since the difficulty depends entirely on traffic.
If you really feel you need to mark a difficult turn, then I suggest you also leave a map comment to explain it. But remember, neither sharp turns, or slow turns are "difficult" turns.
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iainhouse
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This was prompted by the recent rash of "sharp turn" map problems, which led to a quite a few turns in the UK being marked as difficult based on the likelihood a large vehicle would have difficulty making them - turns with good visibility and/or on quiet roads where traffic isn't an issue.
Re: Sharp/Slow turns are not "Difficult"