How Cork Safety Alerts is Using Automation for Overnight and Weekend Updates

We've introduced controlled automation to provide 24/7 coverage of official traffic and safety information, ensuring the public receives critical updates even during unsociable hours when our full team may not be actively posting.

As a volunteer-run service reaching over 280,000 followers across social media platforms, we've implemented a hybrid approach combining automation with human editorial oversight to maintain our reputation for accurate, timely reporting.

We monitor official data sources such as Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which publishes live traffic and motorway safety information around the clock. Rather than wait for human editors to spot updates manually during early mornings, nights, or weekends, we now use carefully controlled automation to detect and share safety-critical information from these verified feeds.

When an automated alert appears on our platforms, it has passed internal checks to avoid duplication or false alarms and focuses exclusively on safety-critical information based on official, real-time data.

Our automation system monitors live official feeds, detects changes such as new motorway warnings, and publishes clearly sourced alerts quickly. However, it does not invent or guess incidents, replace communications from An Garda Síochána, emergency services, or council channels, or remove editorial judgement from major updates.

Anything sensitive, unclear, or developing continues to be reviewed and handled by our human editors, maintaining the editorial standards that have earned us citations in major publications such as RTÉ, the Irish Examiner, and endorsements from national and local authorities.

The move towards responsible automation means faster alerts for road users, fewer missed overnight incidents, clear attribution to official sources, and reduced reliance on rumours or unverified screenshots.

We maintain full transparency about our automation approach. When an alert is automated, it is internally logged as such, sourced from an official authority, and remains open to update, correction, or removal by our editors.

Our service, which generated over 20.4 million Facebook views and reached 2.9 million people on Instagram in recent weeks, has positioned the technology as a tool rather than a replacement for journalism, ensuring Cork residents continue to receive the reliable, factual updates they have come to expect since we launched in 2013.

We continue to encourage public participation through social media, our website, and our freephone number (1800 938 106), maintaining the community-driven ethos that has made us Cork's most trusted source for real-time local news.