What Makes Road Data Trustworthy? A New Standard for Traffic Intelligence

In transportation today, data is everywhere — but trust is scarce.

Traffic operators, fleets, and public agencies now rely on digital inputs to manage roads, deploy resources, and inform the public. But when alerts conflict, events lack verification, or systems flood teams with noise, data becomes more of a liability than an asset.

The problem isn’t volume. It’s confidence. In this environment, trustworthy road data is the real differentiator. ‍

The Challenge: When More Data Means More Work

Most traffic platforms today depend on a mix of public, commercial, and device-generated sources. This variety adds complexity but also coverage.

Operational reviews across the industry and Rekor internal data suggest that between 50% to 80% of roadway event data ingested by traffic management centers is either noisy, duplicative, or lacks the precision required for immediate action. This high volume of low-confidence input creates operational drag, requiring manual verification and cross-referencing. Transforming this data into actionable intelligence often demands AI-driven fusion, filtering, and validation at scale.

• Inconsistency: Incident reports differ in structure, frequency, and location accuracy.

• Redundancy: The same event might appear multiple times — or not at all — depending on the feed.

• Interpretation burden: Operators are often left manually cross-referencing sources to determine what’s real and what matters.

This fragmentation turns traffic operators into analysts, spending time validating and decoding data before they can respond. In critical workflows, the real risk is the delay between signal and action.

And the consequences go beyond slow response:

• In-vehicle systems overloaded with low-confidence alerts can distract drivers, reducing safety instead of improving it.

• Unverified disruptions can mislead navigation apps, rerouting fleets or everyday drivers into already cleared or high-risk areas.

Trustworthy data isn’t just helpful — it’s a safety requirement. Operators and drivers need to know that an alert is real, relevant, and timely.

A Better Standard for Road Intelligence

In a landscape filled with noise, data you can trust performs the work for you — not the other way around.

These four traits define trustworthy road data:

• Verification: Events should be confirmed through multiple, independent signals to reduce false positives and guesswork.

• Timeliness: Alerts must reflect live conditions, not outdated reports.

• Enrichment: Details like severity, speeds, location, duration, historical reference and classification turn raw data into clear guidance.

• Consistency: A unified view across systems allows teams to act with clarity and coordination.

When data meets these standards, it doesn’t just inform — it drives action.

Localization: Turning Information Into Impact

National feeds offer awareness. But decisions happen locally.

Without precise, timely, and contextual data, traffic operators make broad assumptions about specific roads — a dangerous mismatch.

Trustworthy road intelligence operates at street level:

• A verified lane closure on a key arterial, not a vague “roadwork nearby”

• A slowdown with exact location and duration, not just generic congestion

• A crash validated through connected vehicle data and camera feeds, not just third-party feeds

This level of clarity enables better rerouting, smarter signal decisions, and safer fleet operations. Without it, teams stay reactive and disconnected from what is actually happening.‍

From Noise to Clarity

Forward-thinking cities are starting to raise the bar. Instead of stitching together dozens of unverified sources, they’re building real-time intelligence layers that combine AI detection, connected vehicle inputs, and agency-reported events.

Platforms like Rekor Command® bring this to life by detecting events from infrastructure in real time, confirming incidents with connected vehicle behavior, and feeding verified updates back into operations. The result isn’t just more data — it’s fewer, more reliable alerts that arrive fast and in context.

This isn’t about adding another dashboard. It’s about giving operators a source they don’t have to question.

Trust Is the New Infrastructure

As mobility networks evolve, data will be just as critical as concrete and asphalt. Roads will no longer be managed by gut instinct or delayed reports. They’ll be managed by systems that deliver real-time, verifiable insight, shared across teams.

• For agencies, this means earlier coordination

• For fleets, safer and smarter routing

• For drivers, alerts that help — not distract

• For autonomous vehicles, better training, fewer assumptions, faster readiness

Because in traffic operations, the cost of not knowing goes far beyond inconvenience. It means crashes, wasted time in traffic jams, and lost trust.

The question isn’t simply what data you have — it’s whether you trust it enough to take action.

A new standard is emerging. And it’s built for decisions, not just detection.