Waze will now warn drivers about crash dangers using historical data

Exactly. Driving... Driving...BEEP BOOP!...What was that?CRASH!!

It works that well.

However, Waze says that to minimize distractions, it won't show these alerts on regularly traveled roads and will limit alerts on unfamiliar roads to prevent driver overload.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In my country there's sometimes signs that say something like "caution: accident prone area". I never thought it distracting when driving.

I present for your consideration the case of September 3rd, 1967: the day Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to the right side. One would expect that the incredibly distracting process of overcoming a lifetime of learned habit would be a recipe for chaos, but in fact there were significantly fewer accidents than average on the day of the change [^1].

As it turns out, the danger of complacency outweighs the danger of distraction. It does not particularly matter where one directs their focus if they are not driving mindfully. In a more natural environment, we're good enough at identifying dangerous situations to pay attention when it matters, but roads are not a natural environment. For every alert person briefly annoyed by an audio notification there will be at least as many pedal-pushers too relaxed to even form coherent memories, let alone engage in defensive driving.[^2]

[^1]: The effect was not permanent, so I will be ignoring the alternative explanation that the new side was somehow massively superior to the extent required to explain the discrepancy. Ditto to the idea that fewer people were driving that one particular day, because the effect did last longer than a single day.

[^2]: Of course, just because someone's driving absent-mindedly doesn't mean that they're stupid. They'll catch on if you just buzz their phone randomly because you think it'll prevent crashes. The driver needs to believe that the danger is real which is something that the app has to earn by not being manipulative.

You do know that the entire point of waze is to give you alerts to things like crashes and roadworks etc, right? Right?

And, instead of safely driving the road conditions, they'll wonder where exactly others have crashed and why?

Definitely an unnecessary distraction. I really think the devs for this app don't drive. They either ride a bike or commute via subway/bus.

I had to turn off the distracting lane assist/warning feature because of so many false positives from inconsistent lane markings, especially in construction zones.

A few warnings is great, too many are so distracting.

Or coloring the section of the road accordingly just like it does with slowdowns or traffic jams coloring yellow and red for the stretch ahead.

I mean it has a big bright icon that pops up, that's no different to your suggestion. Text simply being there too isn't any worse.

Magic earth is the best, not open source though

Or better yet, if only engineers did their fucking jobs and fixed negligently-designed areas to be less dangerous.

Edit: I say that as an engineer criticizing my own profession from the inside, by the way.

Agreed. Don't understand why people use Google Maps over Waze unless you're not in a car.

I'm here for the angry advocacy of better road design you're bringing to this post.

Keep it going!