British police compete in imagination to encourage motorists to drive sensibly.
The latest trick, and which is somewhat reacting on the other side of the Channel: indicating false police checkpoints on the Waze navigation application in order to encourage drivers to raise the foot on the pedal.
The app is indeed reputed to be based on collaboration, in order to warn users in real time of any hazards they may encounter on the road.
It is even the police themselves, not without irony, who revealed their little scheme, as our colleagues from BFMTV have noticed.
“We absolutely do not randomly put police markers on Waze for our patrols, no - ever.
An easy way to slow down drivers on our roads.
Thanks Waze,” Surrey Police wrote on Twitter.
We definitely don't drop Police markers on Waze at random points on our patrol, nope - never 😉
An easy way to get drivers to slow down on our roads - thanks @waze.
pic.twitter.com/rrv9I9LJJ6
— Roads Policing - Surrey Police - UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 29, 2022
This publication triggered a number of criticisms.
A surfer in particular deplored the lack of police presence on the road, mocking the fact that the use of Waze would have become an alternative.
“We are not responsible for the drastic budget cuts over the past few years which have decimated the police force dedicated to road safety”, replied the Surrey police.
Still, as BFMTV notes, this little trick has some limitations.
The collaborative nature of the Waze application allows users to very quickly rectify the absence of fictitious checkpoints indicated by the police on the road.
The police themselves also note that their checkpoints have a lifespan of between 10 and 20 minutes.