Traffic police officers in the county of Surrey in South-East England, report themselves, even though they are not on the side of the road and ambush drivers, and this is so that the drivers on the road will receive the warning and slow down their speed, even though there will not be a police officer waiting for them at the location of the report – because they are in traffic at all
Traffic police officers in Surrey County, in the southeast of England, found an original way to deal with the manpower problem in their department: while the car is in motion, the police officers report themselves, even though they are not on the side of the road and ambush drivers, and this is so that the drivers who are on the road receive the The alert will slow down their speed, even though a policeman will not be waiting for them at the location of the report – because, as mentioned, they are in traffic on the roads.
The rather bizarre story was brought by Idan Ben Tovim in “Giktime”, according to which the Surrey traffic police posted a tweet in which they wrote “We absolutely do not report police on Waze at random points during our shift. No, never”, with the addition of a winking emoji indicating The famous British sense of humor. The tweet was signed by the police with “An easy way to make drivers slow down on our roads. Thanks, Waze.”
We may disagree about the behavior of the Surrey Traffic Police but if we face the truth when the phrase ‘police ahead’ emanates from your smartphone or multimedia system in your car while you are navigating with Waze, there is almost no chance that you will not check your speed and start slowing it down, in any case Similar to placing a dummy camera.
What makes the story even more strange, is the fact that for some unknown reason, the traffic police itself is the one who admitted to the act – without anyone bringing it up first or demanding an explanation.
In response, users began to accuse the British traffic police that the officers are violating Waze’s terms of use, to which they responded that “when we stick the pin (on the map, e.b.), we are at the location”, “nowhere in Waze does it say that a car has to stop in place “, and finally “Technically, the reports are not false. We are indeed in the specific location at the moment of the report”, again accompanied by a sarcastic smiley.
In one of the responses, they explained in the account of the traffic police that “we are not responsible for the significant cuts in the police budgets that destroyed the traffic units throughout the country.” According to the Guardian, the number of police officers in the traffic division of England and Wales has fallen by 22% in the last 7 years. This tweet apparently indicates that the police are carrying out this creative action not as trolling, but as a certain means of slowing down traffic in certain places without having to deploy dozens of cars on the road.
Although many claimed that the method would not work, in light of the fact that the first user who sees that there is no cell phone in the report can delete the report with the click of a button, the police claim that they tested this, and the method certainly works for at least 10-20 minutes – perhaps in light of the fact that the users suspect that it is a hidden cell phone or Covert, so don’t rush to deny the report. And yet, many users have warned the police that Waze does block accounts that repeatedly report false reports.
In “Giktime” they brought the words of the president of the British drivers’ organization, who was interviewed by the Guardian, actually expressed support for the creative idea of the traffic police, and claimed that any tactic to slow down the speed of travel and save lives is legitimate: “We know that signs warning of speed cameras affect the behavior of drivers and factors for them to slow down. Police use of Waze reports is simply the modern equivalent of a speed camera sign.’