Man Witnesses An Accident. Then He Gets A Shocking Notification From Waze: ‘How?’

Waze can be quite good at letting you know real time information, like if a cop is nearby, if there’s a hazardous object on the road, or just if there’s unexpected traffic in an area.

Most expect the app to be pretty up to date due to users submitting their observations in real time.

But what happens when it’s a little too quick at detecting what’s going on with the roads?

In a viral video with more than 1.6 million views, content creator Jeremiah Runde (@jeremiahrunde) shares dashcam footage originally filmed by Darryl Runde (@darryl.runde). It’s not clear if the Rundes are of any relation.

The dash cam footage shows a police car on the right side of the highway seemingly taking a curve too fast. It loses control and plows into a small body of water just off the road, sending up a large splash. By the time the car with the dash cam passes the scene, you can see that the water looks shallow enough that both the car and the officer appear to be fine.

A white pickup truck pulls over onto the shoulder shortly after, seemingly to help. And that's when things get strange.

Waze immediately pushes a notification reading "car on shoulder reported ahead," despite the truck having pulled over less than a second earlier, directly in front of the car filming.

"Watch the cop that pulls up on the right side of the screen… this was about 20 minutes ago," the caption reads.

Do Police Officers Have to Follow Traffic Laws?

When off-duty or during routine, non-emergency driving, officers are bound by the same traffic laws as everyone else, according to TicketVoid.

The exception kicks in during an active emergency response, when lights and sirens are activated. Most states then allow officers to exceed the speed limit, run red lights, or ignore other rules of the road. That exemption isn't unlimited, though.

Officers are still typically held to a "due regard" standard, meaning they're expected to drive with reasonable care for the safety of others even while responding to a call, and can be held liable if that standard isn't met.

How Does Waze Know What's Happening On The Road?

Waze relies on two groups of contributors working together: everyday users and volunteer map editors, according to Waze Belgium.

Users provide speed data as they drive and can actively submit reports for hazards, police, or road closures. A separate community of volunteer map editors maintains the underlying map itself, updating it almost daily.

That speed and report data feeds Waze's routing algorithm, which uses a mix of historical and real-time information to react to and anticipate traffic conditions. The source doesn't spell out exactly how fast a single report can surface to nearby drivers, but it does confirm that live user-submitted data is constantly flowing into the system.

Waze Vs. Google Maps For Real-Time Alerts

Of the two big navigation apps, Google and Waze, Waze is built specifically around this kind of instant, driver-powered reporting. ZDNET rates Waze the winner for both traffic/incident reporting and police and speed trap alerts specifically, noting it pioneered live, driver-submitted data and lets users confirm or dismiss alerts as they drive past. 

Waze also has a conversational reporting feature that lets drivers report hazards just by speaking, such as saying something like "looks jammed ahead," to generate a report without touching their phone.

Google Maps has started catching up with its own crash, slowdown, and lane-blockage reporting, but ZDNET noted it still won't automatically reroute drivers around reported incidents the way Waze does.

Commenters React to Waze's Impossibly Fast Alert
The comments were full of people trying to work out how Waze knew so quickly.

“How tf the maps know that quick,” a top comment read.

Others made jokes about the cop.

“One minute you're on the road looking at the scenery, next minute you're in the scenery looking at the road,” a person said.

“As a law enforcement officer, I am CACKLING. Bro 100% knew that curve was there too,” another wrote.

At least one person had praise for the (presumably) Good Samaritan in the truck.

“I love that the truck pulled over immediately to help,” they said.

Motor1 reached out to both Jeremiah Runde and Darryl Runde via TikTok direct message and comment and to Waze via email. We'll be sure to update this if any party responds.