diff --git a/internal/routewatch/dbmaintainer.go b/internal/routewatch/dbmaintainer.go
index 653301f..993d616 100644
--- a/internal/routewatch/dbmaintainer.go
+++ b/internal/routewatch/dbmaintainer.go
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ import (
 const (
 	// checkpointInterval is how often to run WAL checkpoint.
 	// Frequent checkpoints keep the WAL small, improving read performance.
-	checkpointInterval = 30 * time.Second
+	// Under heavy write load, we need aggressive checkpointing.
+	checkpointInterval = 5 * time.Second
 
 	// vacuumInterval is how often to run incremental vacuum.
 	// Since incremental vacuum only frees ~1000 pages (~4MB) per run,