Waze now notifies you when you’re speeding

The Google-owned navigation app styling itself as an on-the-go social network has received a new feature today that alerts drivers when they are traveling over the speed limit. Waze will be rolling out this new detail starting today in France, Brazil, Italy, and 15 other countries. The US won’t be getting this functionality quite yet, but Waze is promising that it will arrive in the near future.

Waze already uses crowdsourced information to warn users about speed traps and hazards on the road, but this new speeding alert feature is aimed at helping users stay aware of the speed limit on poorly marked or unfamiliar roads. As someone who lives in a part of the road where speed limit signs aren’t particularly well-maintained, this seems like a pretty stellar feature to me.

Those of you concerned about the potentially nagging quality of this alert system need not fear. The speeding notification simply highlights your speed when you pass the threshold and reminds you of what the speed limit is in the area. Users have the ability to toggle an audio warning, and they can adjust the warning feature to only trigger when they’re traveling at various percentages above the speed limit (5, 10, 15 percent, etc…) Although Waze isn’t clear on this detail, we can assume you can turn it off completely if you want to, considering the speedometer is itself an optional feature on the app.

What are your thoughts regarding Waze integrating speeding alerts? Do you regularly use this app to avoid speed traps and stay abreast of traffic? Let us know what your experience with the app has been like so far in the comments below!