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Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

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Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#101

Post by scruple »

saurik wrote: post #96
scruple wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had similar experiences with Waze. These sorts of things drive me insane. All of this sort of maneuvering around and jockeying for position... For what? If I'm lucky I can save myself 5 minutes? No, thank you. I wish these apps had options to turn that stuff off. Having said that, I'm not a SoCal native but I've been here for over a decade now. It drives some of my SoCal native friends up the wall that I won't g…

That's the whole point of Waze: if you weren't trying to frantically get somewhere as fast as possible, no matter the cost (I mean, this app is even trying to warn you about police cars so you can get a lower risk for constantly speeding...) you would download a more mainstream app.

Okay, but, Google Maps has speedtrap warnings, too, though.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#102

Post by Dylan16807 »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #90
chrisseaton wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic Can you physically turn the streets into cul-de-sacs? Where I live a lot of domestic streets are cul-de-sacs presumably to prevent too many people driving past.

Yes, Portland added diverters to some of its neighborhood Greenway routes, that forcibly divert car traffic (walking and biking can still get through). It was done for basically what's talked about in the article, too many cars using local residential roads for commuting. Really, this is a design problem with the streets and lack of effective public transportation. LA brought this onto itself.

They made a decision not to make the roads objectively worse to thwart abusers. I think calling that a design problem they brought on themselves is unfair.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#103

Post by simplesleeper »

L_226 wrote: post #99
simplesleeper wrote: post #80

Transport for London Tech Lead here. In London, we have been collaborating with google waze - we provide them with information at the local level. Streets that waze should not use for route finding (e.g. roads with schools) can be blocked for use by Waze. Both local councils and TfL can provide this data. The main difference between Waze and Google Maps is that Waze uses real time traffic data. There are multiple map…

> The main difference between Waze and Google Maps is that Waze uses real time traffic data. Do you mean that Waze uses real time data provided by 3rd parties ? Because I have always had the understanding that Gmaps uses location and telemetry data from (the Google maps) mobile apps to determine traffic conditions in near real time.

I don't know what happens under their hood, but I know for sure they source some data from third parties. Makes sense to, considering TfL provides a lot of data - e.g. live bus times etc

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#104

Post by megaremote »

Scoundreller wrote: post #28
swsieber wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speed bumps go a long way too by dropping the effective speed.

My city seems to do this with more unorthodox methods: cheap out on road maintenance and engineering. Oh sure, take that side street with all of the sunken sewer grates. My mom’s street was riddled with potholes. We were happy when they repaved it, but blew it when they put up speed bumps.

This is partly because drivers aren't actually paying there way, and are subsidised by others a ridiculous amount.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#105

Post by apexalpha »

Yes, the same thing happens in Belgium and the Netherlands. Waze, Google Maps et al. will route traffic through any road they can find if it saves times.

But neighborhoods are left with all the negatives. Is it really worth it to route hundreds of vehicles through a small street with a school just to save drivers 1 minute of their time?

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#106

Post by apexalpha »

sosodev wrote: post #33

It seems to me that Waze isn't the problem. I've seen very similar problems where I live. When the freeway gets backed up, as it inevitably does, traffic spills out into awfully designed city streets. I once got stuck in small neighborhood for 2 hours while the freeway was backed up and that was before Waze existed. In Southern California we have massive urban sprawl most of which is filled with cul-de-sacs within cu…

But usually people don't go into neighborhoods they don't know. Locals might cut through a city but others won't. Now, with Waze and Google, literally everyone can cut through a city even though they've never been there.

This is the problem: these roads weren't build for it and the neighbors are left with busy streets, noise pollution and an increase in traffic.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#107

Post by pro_zac »

swsieber wrote: post #7
chrisseaton wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s not clear to me why the various impacted cities don’t choose to ban through traffic Can you physically turn the streets into cul-de-sacs? Where I live a lot of domestic streets are cul-de-sacs presumably to prevent too many people driving past.

Speed bumps go a long way too by dropping the effective speed.

Getting a speed bump added to your street is nearly impossible in LA. I lived on a street that badly needed one. It was a double length block paralleling Wilshire, so frequently used as a bypass with many speeding drivers. I looked up the process for requesting a speed bump. They only take so many requests per year, so I had to wait a few months for the request form to open up. I marked my calendar and when the date came it required that you get signatures from 50% of the residents on your street. Since my street was almost entirely apartment buildings and a double length block, this would have been hundreds of people. I gave up. I no longer live there.

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#109

Post by gambiting »

notatoad wrote: post #12
nradov wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It turns out than bans on through traffic aren't legally enforceable. The signs are merely advisory.

A "no thru traffic" sign may not be legally enforceable, and it's certainly difficult to enforce just from a practical perspective. But physically making the street not be a through street is possible. Just plop down a couple of Jersey walls and you're done. Check out how Vancouver made semlin, grant, and gravely forcibly "no thru traffic" here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DFVJNDF2DftbFzpv9

On the street near me there are just chikanes every 100 metres or so, that massively discourages people from using it for using it as a shortcut, because at rush hours the chikanes become a massive pain in the ass:

https://www.google.com/maps/@55.101503,-1.584329,3a,75y,42.5...

Re: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”

#110

Post by gambiting »

megaremote wrote: post #108
lemmox wrote: post #24

I had no idea Waze was powered by anon crowd sourced map editors. If anybody here is doing it, what's the motivation? Personally I'd never disclose my shortcuts or free parking spots.

How did you imagine it worked?

They know where all their users are, so they can see people moving down the main road are moving slower than people using the side roads. I wouldn't expect them to have actual human editors for this stuff.
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