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'Scooters and low Power Motos need avoid Highway setting' has been merged into this idea

Change "Avoid Highways" to "Avoid Freeways"

The current "Avoid Highways" preference in the client is essentially useless because it includes even "Minor Highways" which is poorly defined. The category includes even very small country roads that happen to be designated State highways - hardly in the same category as freeways and therefore not useful as a routing distinction.

On the other hand, "Avoid Highways" is a very useful option for users who would like to use the Waze route optimization features, but without the stress and other factors that come with Freeway driving.

38 votes

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Ted Panofsky shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →

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  • Danny commented  ·   ·  Report

    Avoiding minor roads is more important to many people that avoiding highways. Routing journeys down single track or unsuitable roads is dangerous and often leads to cars being damaged or scratched

  • Bob commented  ·   ·  Report

    A mobility scooter can go on sidewalks and inside parks were there is no road for a car but a paved path for people to use. Same applies to electric wheelchairs. My mobility scooter tops out a 8 km per hour and a max of 38 km. How do I tell Waze to use that maximum speed limit in calculating the time to travel between Point A and Point B? I am NOT using a motorcycle, woth a much higher speed or distance it can travel.

  • Jonathan commented  ·   ·  Report

    Instead of "Avoid", allow for a preference setting - "Prefer freeways" or "Prefer side-streets" so that Waze will give options for both, but primary routing is based on the user's preferred option without excluding the other altogether.

  • scottst commented  ·   ·  Report

    This should be avoid freeways for sure. Many minor, desirable roads are designated as highways. The point of this choice for me is to avoid Freeways, when I'm towing a large trailer for instance, or in an old car which is happier at 55 than at 70mph

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I'm in agreement I'm a scooter user of 10 years

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    We just had bad experiences two days in a row. We are in Mougins France and Waze is sending us by small roads inatrwad of the highways

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    How do I set Waze to ONLY USE FREEWAYS WHENEVER POSSIBLE?

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    How do I set Waze to ONLY USE FREEWAYS WHEN EVERY POSDIBLE?

  • Joshua Suris commented  ·   ·  Report

    Waze switched Avoid Highways Setting to Avoid Freeways.
    That is better as general settong for cars but not for low power motorcycles and scooters.
    You need separate avoid highway and avoid freeway toggles.
    Also under vehicle type there should be motorcycle and scooter options.
    So lane splitting no skewing car data for traffic.
    The avoid highway and freeway should be there also.
    All in one place.

  • foxitrot commented  ·   ·  Report

    This change just went live (at least on the ROTW server) a week ago. Big THANKS!

    (Voters can move their votes to some other appropriate ideas, which are waiting for consideration.)

  • Debbie Shapiro commented  ·   ·  Report

    I usually prefer minor highways and local roads to freeways, but my morning commute leaves me in a conundrum. I'm in the Seattle area and my commute involves one portion that is a reverse commute to traffic and (if I choose the highways option) one portion that is in the middle of a high traffic section of road. I am going around Lake Washington from Woodinville to Mountlake Terrace. On a normal commuting day, I can take I-405N for most of my trip and I have a pretty clear commute. If I use Waze with Avoid Highways set to off, it will route me to I-5S for a couple miles at the end of my commute. This portion of I-5 is usually REALLY congested and it takes 10 minutes or so to go only a couple of miles. Last week, I tried something where I went I-405N like normal, but instead of taking I-5S, I continued on I-405N to the Alderwood Mall Parkway exit and changed my settings to Avoid Highways ON and continued on backroads from there. So much more pleasant. But I don't know how to get Waze to go such a route on its own? Do I just set it to Avoid Highways ON and ignore the first portion of the directions till I get to Alderwood Mall Parkway? Then I'm really just using my own directions for most of the trip and somewhat defeating the purpose of Waze. I'd really like to see Waze calculate more trip options at the start of my trip. Often, I only get one option when I turn Avoid Highways to Off and that is the one route above I-405N to I-5S. If I turn Avoid Highways ON, I may get 3 different routes - all local roads, which is often my preference anyway. There has to be a better answer than all or nothing, though.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Perhaps options should be "avoid freeways" and "avoid major highways"

  • bedo commented  ·   ·  Report

    This function is now working in Italy!!!

  • bedo commented  ·   ·  Report

    I'm bored of being always detoured on the highways and I have to ignore waze driving direction.

  • foxitrot commented  ·   ·  Report

    In Europe (and I suppose not only there) a lot of roads are classified into the Highways categories not according to their width or speed or security profile, but usually JUST according to their national importance. Many towns or willages are often not reachable at all using any other roads than a 1+1-lane Major Highway...

  • aeytom commented  ·   ·  Report

    yes - for europe only freeways must avoided

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