Crowdsourced navigation app Waze blamed for creating traffic jams on side streets
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While the highways in L.A. are notorious for creating huge bumper-to-bumper traffic jams, residents of the city are beginning to find local roads filled with cars, all heading in the same direction. As a result, usually less traveled roads like Baxter Street, one of the steepest streets in the U.S., is also filled with traffic. Most drivers aren't used to the street's roller coaster like grade, (at 30%, it's steeper than most streets in San Francisco) and this has led to the occurrence of numerous accidents.
All over the country, drivers are finding that navigation apps are creating issues on roads not designed for heavy traffic. Consider the words of Leonia, New Jersey police chief Tom Rowe. "People will do whatever the app tells them to and it's scary sometimes," Rowe said. The city has since restricted the use of side streets to residents only, which has forced Waze to remove the side streets in the city from the app. That also might be the solution that L.A. imposes on Baxter Street. Other possible solutions include making it a one-way street or preventing drivers from making some turns.
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