No matter how careful you are when driving, the roads are always full of unforeseen dangers. And some are particularly common in France. Fortunately, a GPS app can warn you when they approach.
This has probably already happened to you. While you are driving quietly on a road, you pass over a speed bump that you had not seen. And as long as this speed bump is a little high, your car hits loudly, causing its shock absorbers to slam! If you were going too fast, the sudden impact could even cause damage to the bodywork or underbody. The kind of inconvenience that we could do without, but which unfortunately occurs quite often, as these systems multiply throughout France…
In fact, there are no less than 450,000 speed bumps, speed bumps and other pads in France, according to figures from the Drivers’ Defense League and the association For Peaceful and Sustainable Mobility. Yet many of them are actually poorly designed or poorly positioned, creating risks for vehicles and users. As a result, even if they are primarily there to improve safety, they are the cause of material damage to cars, due to non-regulatory height, and to the immediate environment, due to shock waves emitted in the ground and transmitted to nearby homes. And that’s without taking into account human damage, with regular accidents causing physical trauma and injuries of all kinds, noise pollution, or the increase in CO2 emissions and fuel consumption that they cause.
However, a 1994 decree very strictly regulates the construction of these road infrastructures in terms of length, width, height and shape. In addition, they are required to be installed and signposted in 30 km/h zones, and are strictly prohibited on roads where more than 3,000 vehicles circulate every day, on routes including public transport lines, at proximity to emergency centers, approaching a bend or a bridge, etc. In short, there is a real gap between existing urban developments and the official safety standards that they are supposed to respect…
Fortunately, you can count on a GPS guidance app to come to your rescue: Waze. Particularly appreciated for its interactivity and the engagement of its community, this free app allows users to self-report many problems such as traffic jams, road checks, accidents and other dangers. Google has decided to add the reporting of dangerous turns and illegal speed bumps through an update. Users on Android will be able to benefit from it from the beginning of March, while a deployment is planned on iOS in the following weeks. Thanks to this option, Waze should save you a lot of startles!
Other features will also arrive throughout the month. Thus, for greater safety on the road, users in France will now be able to report the presence of an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the road. The GPS also has a roundabout crossing assistant, to guide you step by step, telling you where to enter, which lane to choose and when to exit. You will also be able to benefit from speed limit change alerts, as well as useful information on parking lots and garages. Finally, the mapping application will now inform you of traffic and delays on your favorite routes, in addition to suggestions optimized by its algorithm. A real co-pilot!