FAQ

The following is a list of common questions you might have about CHP Traffic. Of course, please feel free to send your question to santosapps@gmail.com if your question isn't answered here.

Q: You said that CHP Traffic covered all of California, but there are only a handful of regions in the Browse tab, and not every city is listed in Favorite Region picker list. Why is that?

A: This is a common misconception. The Browse tab lists all of the CHP dispatch centers in California. Together, they cover the entire state of California. Similarly, the Favorite Region picker lists all of the regional CHP offices; each CHP dispatch center is organized into a number of regional offices. Again, every part of California is covered by a regional office, which in turn is part of a CHP dispatch center. So it is true that CHP Traffic covers ALL of California. However, if you're not familiar with where your local CHP office is, you might not know which CHP region covers your area. This is where the Nearby tab comes in handy. The CHP region listed at the top (or, in some rare cases, 2nd from the top) of the Nearby tab will be the CHP region that patrols your current position.

Q: Can you add maps to the application so I can see where the incidents are in relation to each other and where I am?

A: CHP Traffic version 2.0 adds a map tab that shows incidents for most areas. The Central Coast (Ventura, Santa Barbara, Monterey) and Redding/Red Bluff areas are not yet supported, but rest assured that we are working on adding those areas in the future.

Q: The CHP has all lanes of a major freeway closed. Why does CHP Traffic not show it as an incident?

A: CHP Traffic gets its information directly from CHP servers; the information does not come from a server run by the makers of CHP Traffic. So if, after refreshing the incident display with the refresh button, you still don't see any information about an incident, it is likely that the CHP has chosen not to publish information about the incident. This is typically done in cases of police actions in which withholding the information is done in the interest of public safety -- for example, highway shootings and high-speed chases. In these cases, news outlets with traffic helicopters will cover the incident but the CHP won't publish information until public safety is no longer at risk or the criminal investigation is complete.

Of course, you can check the CHP site directly by visiting http://cad.chp.ca.gov. If you find that the information is there but the CHP Traffic application is not displaying it, please forward the web page and a description of the missing incident to santosapps@gmail.com and we will investigate the issue.

Q: On my commute home, some lanes were closed, but there was no relevant incident shown in the CHP Traffic application. Why?

A: CHP Traffic only covers incident and lane closures that fall under the responsibility of the CHP. CHP Traffic does not cover Caltrans lane closures, annoying though they may be. However, in many major metropolitan areas, there are CHP log entries for scheduled lane closures and severe weather that might affect traffic safety. These entries generally have a title such as "Lane Closures," "Fog," or "Media Information."

If you want to find information about planned Caltrans lane closures, you may wish to visit http://www.caltrans.ca.gov. There is no guarantee that they will stick to their schedule, but this may be helpful.

Q: Is there a way to make CHP Traffic automatically refresh the list of traffic incidents periodically?

A: Yes. This is a setting in the Settings tab.

Q: Why did you drop support for iOS 3.x?

A: In rewriting the app to take advantage of a special media feed from the CHP, we took advantage of many new APIs available in iOS 4.0. It was our belief that the existing version of the app (1.x) would continue to function for people using the older iOS, and new features would benefit those using the new iOS. Much to our surprise, shortly after the release of the new version, the CHP completely redesigned their CAD page, breaking the older 1.x version. Regrettably, because so much of the app had been rewritten, it was then impractical to support iOS 3.x with the new version. We sincerely apologize for this state of affairs.