Waze to warn of accident hot spots in forthcoming update

Waze’s crowdsourced information can help drivers avoid traffic and speed traps, but a new update might warn road users of perilous stretches ahead.

The Google-owned navigation app is currently testing a dangerous roads feature, which would warn drivers of areas where there have been crashes and accidents.

So, if there’s a particularly dangerous curve for example, Waze users can make other users aware. As a result, the roads are coloured in red for that stretch of road will appear in red, so drivers know to use a little more caution.

The “history of crashes” feature has been spotted by the Israeli blog Geektime (via Android Police) and will be optional for users, once it has rolled out to all. The alerts will only appear when you’re travelling on new stretches of road, rather than dangerous areas you may drive on regularly.

The feature appears to be a good idea that could encourage road users to maintain caution the driving in areas where they don’t have local knowledge and are unaware of potential slippery roads, blind corners or other hazards.

I’d certainly like the out-out-town taxi drivers who frequent Shrewsbury to have access to this as they rag around the dangerous country roads to bring me home on my visits to the UK.

Should the feature become successful upon roll out, it’s possible it’ll be brought to Google Maps too. Although the apps remain separate, Waze is somewhat of a testing ground for Google Maps features.

The two apps are about to get even closer with Google merging the teams as part of cost cutting measures at Google.

“Google remains deeply committed to Waze’s unique brand, its beloved app and its thriving community of volunteers and users,” a spokesperson told the WSJ, earlier this month. And there’ll be no lay-offs of the 500-odd Waze staff.