F Waze and F iPhone. OK, don't F iPhone.
I was traveling home from my folks' place on Sunday afternoon. I looked and traffic off-Cape was not good. Not terrible at teh rotisserie but bad on 495.
I live in the area, so I know how to get around it. I got off at Rock Ridge (with a S-load of dimes) and travelled up 28 to 105. Cut over and took back roads back to Taunton. Same distance. Definitely the same time with traffic.
As I get to the lights at 105, I realize that Waze is pulling HUNDREDS of NY/NJ/CT cars off of 495. HUNDREDS! They get off, meander around on 105 in 2 lanes. DIVE over to the right most lane 2 sets of lights later, jamming up ALL the traffic and then turn on 79 to go to 18 to get back on 495.
2 miles. It's 2 miles of highway avoided. And they EXTRA jammed up 495 at 18 with hundreds of cars getting back on. So the net effect was ZERO. ZERO!
I'm betting with everything, it didn't save these folks a single second. "We've detected traffic ahead. You can take the next exit to save 2 minutes, which you will spend getting back on the highway. In fact, those 2 minutes were only valid about 90 minutes ago. Now you and I are just muffing up the traffic. Would you like me to reroute?"
Unless it's a MAJOR course change, I NEVER let the phone change my route. "This will save you 3 minutes." No. It probably won't.
It's bad when the Norton cops have to put out details to stop Wazers from tying up back roads to get to Notso Great Woods.