COSTA RICA NEWS — The Policía de Tránsito (traffic police) and the Departamento de Ingeniería de Tránsito y Planificación (Department of Traffic Engineering and Planning) will use data supplied by drivers using the crowd-sourced maps app Waze to respond promptly to accidents, blockages, malfunctioning traffic lights and other situations that trigger congestion.
The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) this week signed an agreement with Google Inc. for the implementation of the system, with the aim of reducing response time to accidents and traffic situations.
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Deputy Minister of Road Transport and Road Safety, Sebastian Urbina, explained that San José is part of a group of 10 cities around the world to take part in the Connected Citizens (Ciudadanos Conectados in Spanish ) program.
The first 10 cities working with Waze include:
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Barcelona, Spain and the Government of Catalonia
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Tel Aviv, Israel
- San Jose, Costa Rica
- Boston, USA
- State of Florida, USA
- State of Utah, USA
- Los Angeles County
- The New York Police Department (NYPD)
Waze was built by the global community with a sense that we’re all in this together,” Di-Ann Eisnor, head of Growth at Waze said in a statement. “An affordable, accessible mobile platform like Waze eliminates superfluous layers and enables citizens and cities to connect directly. We are thrilled to pioneer the Connected Citizens program with the inaugural W10 class, who represent a commitment to efficiency and innovation on nearly every continent in the world.”
Urbina said that the first results of the program will be available in November.
Source: MOPT; Digitaltrends.com