If you're the driver of a motor vehicle, no denying almost anything you can do with a phone can be distracting..."IF"...you are interacting with the device "physically". Now if you are one of those people who have a problem changing radio stations on your car radio, pressing the power buttons on your windows or sunroof, adjusting the mirrors, changing the fan speed, playing a CD, answering a phone call on your blue tooth....(need I go on? )....and safely controlling your vehicle at the same time then yes, interacting with the Waze app could be dangerous. On the other hand "interaction" isn't a requirement with the Waze app. If you want you can turn it on and just use it just like any GPS or map app and just let the other people tell you where everything is. Looking at the map screen is no different than looking at the speedometer, GPS screen, clock or any one of your car mirrors. No need to stare at the screen, a quick glance does the trick.

All things considered I would think the positive element of letting ( possibly ) hundreds of people know there is a cyclist on the road ahead of them would far outweigh the negative element of some nincompoop possibly losing control of their vehicle because they can't chew gum and drive at the same time. Regardless if there's an app or not, people will continue to use their phones while they drive whether they know there are cyclist's on the road or not and some will no doubt even hit cyclists. Nothing will change that fact and while I can't speak for others I personally would like knowing that at least some people driving a car or truck might have access to a navigational tool on their phone that gives them a "heads-up" that I'm a quarter mile ahead of them riding a bike on the side of the road.