[technology, ethics] 911 needs 911

[bridgetester]

Cellphones swamping 911 system
Robert J. Lopez and Rich Connell

LA Times

August 26, 2007Users are experiencing lost calls and lengthy waits. Officials say it's better to summon help on a land line

Comments

[lady_angelina]

Huh. I had no idea that this was happening. And it might well be location-specific. When I made a call to 911 via my cell phone to report someone having (what appeared to be) an epileptic seizure in the middle of a very busy street, I had absolutely no trouble getting through, although the operator said that it had already been reported by the time I called.

But yeah. I can see this sort of thing happening due to ignorant people placing calls to 911 for non-emergencies (this is the same reason, at least partially, that emergency rooms are so bloody expensive: some people don't have a clue as to what constitutes a true emergency). Also, some of these calls are placed accidentally because something in their pocket pressed a speed-dial key that is configured to call 911, or somesuch.