Travelling from Southampton to Stevenage at the start of the Jubilee weekend, leaving at about 5:15pm with radio reporting delays on M25 of up to an hour. So I stopped at Winchester services on the M3 to plot a new route.Waze found me an alternative through Bagshot, Ascot, Windsor, Slough, Beaconsfield, Amersham and Chorleywood to the M25. It took me through long narrow lanes (despite telling it to avoid them in the settings) and two Slough industrial estates all in the name of saving time. It has some good points; it warns me audibly of roadblocks and police traps, but these options aren't essential.Don’t get me on the ads. Why does it matter to my journey which brand of petrol station I frequent?Google Maps is a little less aggressive. It warns me of traffic delays, and would say something to the effect of “the alternatives aren’t much better”. It also offer alternatives en route.Some people will say Waze is brilliant – I just found it hard work. If it saved me any time, it wasn’t more than a few minutes and I think I would have been no worse off sitting in the jam on the M25.
