Drivers alerted to police presence by others using a popular global app appear to be learning how to avoid speeding penalties – but not how to stay safe on roads.

An Australian-first study has found that more than 50 percent of drivers were speeding prior to a police enforcement alert appearing on the Waze navigation app – and this dropped to about 25 percent after the alert.

“Drivers weren’t slowing down because of the speed limit. They were slowing because their phone told them there would be police ahead,” said University of the Sunshine Coast Research Associate Dr Levi Anderson, pictured.

“In addition, the alerts usually appeared within a 14-minute window of UniSC researchers starting to take speed measurements, quickly warning drivers of what they understood to be police enforcement ahead.”

Waze is a Google subsidiary with more than 150 million monthly active users worldwide. In Australia, a third of drivers reportedly use apps such as Waze to share observations of road and traffic conditions.

Dr Anderson said the effect was recorded across all 33 study sites in South East Queensland, covering diverse speed zones and environments.

UniSC researchers used a laser speed measurement device to record more than 9,000 vehicle speeds in various environments, including arterial roads, residential streets, school zones, commercial or industrial areas, and roadworks.

“This effect also grew with speed, with the greatest speed changes recorded on highways, especially at roadworks,” he said.

“In a 100kmh zone, for example, the proportion of speeding drivers fell from 64 percent to 12 percent after an enforcement alert was shared on the app. 

“The smallest reaction, however, occurred in active school zones where 38 percent of drivers continued speeding above the 40kmh limit despite an app alert.”

Overall, the average speed difference across all zones between vehicles travelling before and after the alert was about 5kmh. 

Dr Anderson’s paper ‘Waze to beat the system’ was published yesterday in the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

“Despite the mass adoption of platforms like Waze, this is the first research to use direct observation of laser-measured vehicle speeds to find out if crowdsourced alerts actually influence driver behaviour,” he said.

“These results, along with other research, suggest that app alerts provide a short-term, localised benefit in reducing speeds and crash risks at particular sites for limited times, but are a long-term detriment to road safety as drivers become emboldened to speed if the app doesn’t warn them about police ahead.

“Drivers who did not slow may not have had the Waze app, or hoped their illegal speed was insufficient to trigger an infringement notice.”

Dr Anderson, a member of the MAIC/UniSC Road Safety Research Collaboration, said the practical implications of the study have already been shared with frontline police.

“In this study, the laser device was being used by researchers – not police – but the findings can certainly help inform how police conduct speed enforcement,” he said.

“This could include rapidly moving locations within that 14-minute time period between police setting up a checkpoint and an alert appearing on Waze. 

“If longer, static police operations have more chance of being advertised on an app, police may opt for shorter, geographically dispersed deployments.”

Peter Flanders, a study contributor and UniSC adviser who was a Queensland Police officer for more than four decades, said speeding remained one of the most significant contributors to road trauma globally.

“In Queensland, it is a contributing factor in approximately one-third of fatal crashes, making it a persistent priority for road safety stakeholders and enforcement,” he said.

“Previous research has established that as vehicle speeds increase, both the likelihood and severity of crashes rise exponentially. The perceived probability of being caught exerts a stronger deterrent effect than the severity of the penalty.

“The ‘halo effect’ is where speed reductions occur not only at the site of enforcement, but also in the surrounding areas and for a time after that enforcement site.

“The extent of the halo, however, depends on drivers believing that enforcement is both present and unpredictable. Technology has altered these dynamics.

“This study could help inform strategic operational planning, to help police leverage app alerts to improve driver behaviour and road safety for everyone on the road.”