With mobile traffic applications such as Waze causing a flood of traffic on tiny side streets, the City Council Tuesday approved a pilot program to restrict the routing of vehicles onto certain streets as a condition of entering into data-sharing agreements with developers of mobile mapping applications.
"There are tremendous advantages to apps like Waze," Councilman Paul Krekorian said last year when discussing his motion that led to Tuesday's 12-0 vote to create the pilot. "They can make driving more efficient, but with every technological advance, any consequences that arise must be taken into account."
He added that the city "will have the go-ahead to start a dialogue with these tech companies to see if they will work more closely with us to reduce the impact their apps are having on small residential streets and increase the level of traffic safety in our neighborhoods."
Los Angeles had a data-sharing agreement with Waze from 2015 through 2017.
"We comply with local laws and regulations where applicable and are always happy to have a dialogue with cities," a Waze spokesperson told NBC4 in a statement. "Waze is committed to working with cities, and our free data-sharing program has 950+ global partners that are working together to make transportation smart."
