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West Virginia 511 Drive Safe Android FAQ

The application will not install.

West Virginia 511 Drive Safe was intended for Android versions 2.2 through 4.2.x. It should install properly on those versions and subversions of the OS, but should also work on later versions. Try uninstalling any previous versions of West Virginia 511 Drive Safe before installing a new version. Otherwise, a phone reboot before installation may solve the issue.

I've started the app, but I am not hearing any advisories, what's going on?

Several items can be occurring if you are no longer hearing advisories:

  • You may be in an area where no advisories are in the radius you selected. If you think there should be, try pressing the "replay all" button on the far right of the audio controls. This will reset your connection and replay active advisories near you.
  • Your advisory radius may be set to a low value.
  • You may not be in range of a cell tower to provide data access. Ask a passenger to look at the phone (or when you are stopped) to check for any possible error messages related to the cellular network. Once you are back in range of your network, advisories should resume.
  • Your phone may be simply attempting to acquire a location for your device. If you have wireless location (settings -> location -> use wireless networks) enabled, you can generally get quicker response times as the phone can utilize this less accurate location while it acquires a more solid GPS lock. If you only have GPS location enabled, allow the device sufficient time to acquire a lock.

If the app is still not working as expected, then perhaps there was a problem with the download or installation of the app. When not driving, uninstall the app and re-download and install it in a place where you have access to the internet.

I am sitting in traffic/an incident and West Virginia 511 Drive Safe did not tell me about it. Why?

You may be arriving to the incident before it has arrived to our system. If you don't hear an advisory shortly, then there could be other factors.

Your phone may have lost internet access. Some areas have weak cellular coverage, so this is possible from time to time. The app will not work without internet access, but when it loses internet access, it will continue to try to automatically reconnect.

If the app is still not working as expected, then perhaps there was a problem with the download or installation of the app. When not driving, uninstall the app and re-download and install it in a place where you have access to the internet.

West Virginia 511 Drive Safe continues to tell me "There are no active advisories". Shouldn't it be silent?

If the app continues to say that there are no current advisories, your phone may have lost internet access. Some areas have weak cellular coverage, so this is possible from time to time. The app will not work without internet access, and when it loses internet access, it will continue to try to automatically reconnect. When West Virginia 511 Drive Safe automatically reconnects, the "No advisories" message will be replayed when there are no advisories.

West Virginia 511 Drive Safe is giving me advisories that are in an incorrect location. Doesn't it know where I am?

Your phone may not have updated your location to your current position. You should check your phone's GPS Settings-make sure the phone's GPS is turned on and the phone has a clear view of the sky so your GPS can be read and your location and direction of travel identified. This process may take several minutes. If West Virginia 511 Drive Safe experiences a GPS error, it will be displayed in red on the main screen.

The screen shows that advisories are playing, why can't I hear them?

If the screen displays that an advisory is playing, but you cannot hear it, turn up your phone's media volume. There are typically volume controls on the side of the phone, but each phone model may function differently. Check the user guide for your particular phone.

You may also have connected to a Bluetooth connection in your car that is not currently active. Please check the Bluetooth settings (see #14 below).

How do I minimize the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe App to leave it running in the background while I use my phone for other functions?

You can click the "home" button and West Virginia 511 Drive Safe will continue to play advisories for you while you use other phone functions. If you just want to turn off the sound from playing simply toggle the "Main Switch" on the home screen to "Off". To have sounds resume playing again, toggle it back to the "on" position.

Alternately, you may tap your phone's back button. A dialogue window will appear with options to Minimize the app (advisories will play in the background), Quit the app (quit and close completely), or cancel (return to app). Select "Minimize". If you have an action bar, tap the "x" icon, which will bring up the same dialogue window. Select "Minimize".

How do I close the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe App?

From the homepage of the app, tap your phone's menu button and tap "Quit".

Alternately, you may tap your phone's back button. A dialogue window will appear with options to Minimize the app (advisories will play in the background), Quit the app (quit and close completely), or cancel (return to app). Select "Quit App". If you have an action bar, tap the "x" icon, which will bring up the same dialogue window. Select "Quit App".

Advisories were playing, but suddenly playback stopped, what's happening?

Be sure first that you are still connected to your provider's cellular network. (You need to be connected to receive the sound files). If you are connected, the most likely reason for the playback to stop is that another application began playback of another audio file and halted the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe application's audio stream. If this occurs, simply switch back into the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe application and press "play" to continue West Virginia 511 Drive Safe audio, if hitting play does not resume the audio or you wish to re-hear all advisories, press the "Replay" button on the far right of the audio controls to restart your connection.

I cannot retrieve a connection ID upon startup of the application, what's happening?

Either you are not in an area where the cellular data network is not available, or permissions for network usage have been disabled for West Virginia 511 Drive Safe. Ensure your network is within range, and permissions have been set to allow access for this application.

If the app is still not working as expected, then perhaps there was a problem with the download or installation of the app. When not driving, uninstall the app and re-download and install it in a place where you have access to the internet.

How do I change the settings?

With the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe app open, access "Settings" by tapping your phone's menu button, and selecting "Settings". If you have an action bar, tap the "wrench" icon or tap the 3-dot menu icon on the left-hand side. You may return back to the main screen by tapping the "Save Changes" button located at the bottom of the Settings page, or you may tap the phone's Back button.

Can I select which type of advisories I hear?

Yes. There are multiple advisory types available for your audio stream.

  • Construction
  • Large/Heavy Truck

By default, the Construction advisory type is selected for you. The Large/Heavy Truck Option is not selected by default. These advisories generally do not impact traffic. If you wish to include or exclude either of these advisory types from your broadcast, you may do so through the settings page (access "Settings" by tapping your phone's menu button, and selecting "Settings"). Tap on the Advisory Type Preferences button, and check or un-check your selections.

I have a comment about West Virginia 511 Drive Safe. How do I contact you?

Have a passenger operate the phone, or operate the phone when you are not driving. Tap the menu button on your phone to access the "More Features" link. A listing of "More Features" will be displayed. If you have an action bar, tap the "more features" icon (to the right of the wrench icon). You must tap "OK" to indicate you are not driving, then tap the "Send Feedback" option. Enter your name and your comments in the appropriate boxes. If you would like a reply, include your e-mail address. Click "Submit" to send your comment.

When I connect my cellphone via Bluetooth to the car, I cannot hear the alerts.

West Virginia 511 Drive Safe attempts to play via Bluetooth through compatible setups, but unfortunately not all Bluetooth users/devices will work well. Bluetooth functionally varies greatly between car manufacturers, and different users have very different Bluetooth experiences.

Smartphones generally have two output channels that can be Bluetooth paired - one is the audio of a telephone conversation, and the other is the audio from media being generated by an application (like the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe app). Most often cars Bluetooth-pair to the telephone audio by default, so that a telephone call will be automatically broadcast to the car's audio system via Bluetooth, interrupting any other audio playing through the system.

However, in order to broadcast media from your smartphone, a second pairing to the audio system of the car must be performed. Most often you will simply need to check the option on your smartphone's settings to allow sharing of the "Media Audio" (but you need to have the car running, and your phone in the car so that it can see the active Bluetooth). Once you make this pairing, you will no longer hear any media audio output from your smartphone, since the audio is being sent out by way of Bluetooth transmission.

Now, to hear the West Virginia 511 Drive Safe advisories (or other media) on your smartphone through the Bluetooth connection in your car you must select the proper audio input on your cars system. Usually cars have a separate control that allows selection of a variety of input modes, such as SAT, AM, FM, CD or Bluetooth media (or just Media). Select Bluetooth Media (or media) and you will hear both your music and West Virginia 511 Drive Safe advisories through the car's audio system. As Bluetooth connections, car audio systems and mobile technology continue to evolve, we will be keeping on top of the Bluetooth issues and functionality, but there will likely be many differences among cars and devices.

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