Police: Waze app wrongfully directs Atlantic City-bound drivers into wilderness

Police in Jackson Township are warning drivers that the Waze navigation and traffic app may misdirect motorists heading to Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa into the wilderness of New Jersey’s Pinelands.
The mistake came from an ad within the app that contained a map with wrong information.
“We actually, in the last five days, towed about 10 cars out of here,” says Jackson Township Police Lt. Christopher Parise. “One of our officers who also did a report on their app, as far as if there was a problem with a location, and received some back yesterday that indicated that there were about 250 other reported cases as far as that the location was improper.”
Tow truck operator Carl Hobson says that errant GPS routes have incorrectly sent many drivers into the woods for as long as GPS systems have been around.
“’I was following my GPS.’ That’s what most of the people say … and I say, ‘Why do you keep going? Why didn’t you turn around?’ But they don’t, they keep going,” Hobson says.
The incorrect directions brought some would-be Atlantic City tourists to Colliers Mills Wildlife Refuge instead. It is typically dark without any streetlights. And drivers can often get stuck in the dirt road.
“Apps are great tools … but if you’re looking for a major city overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and the sign on the app tells you to turn down a dirt road into the woods, something may be wrong,” says Parise.
Parise says that Waze is working on a fix and has already removed the ad.
And for anyone wondering, the correct way to Atlantic City is to take the Garden State Parkway or Atlantic City Expressway.