Poll: 911 Text Messaging
- Thread starter BeighT
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Actually, this could be very useful, if it were to be handled well enough.
I mean, yeah, you can call and hangup and they'll send everything, but in, say, a situation where you don't need everything (like, most situations), they could set up a basic code system.
So, for example, you enter 911 in the texting area, the phone immediately becomes silent, you enter a series of very simple menus to indicate to the receiver what needs to be sent and how much of it needs to be sent (so they don't send special forces to a mugging), and then an optional field for a description of the case, if the sender has the ability to describe it. Then the text goes off to emergency response center, they can figure out where the phone is pretty quickly on their computers (I assume they can, I don't see why they couldn't, I mean, they should be able to triangulate the location from phone towers in the area, right?), and appropriate emergency services, not an all-out thing that would be sent on a hang-up, can be dispatched.
This would allow for somewhat specific calls for help to be sent in a very small amount of time, and they would be completely silent as well.
I mean, yeah, you can call and hangup and they'll send everything, but in, say, a situation where you don't need everything (like, most situations), they could set up a basic code system.
So, for example, you enter 911 in the texting area, the phone immediately becomes silent, you enter a series of very simple menus to indicate to the receiver what needs to be sent and how much of it needs to be sent (so they don't send special forces to a mugging), and then an optional field for a description of the case, if the sender has the ability to describe it. Then the text goes off to emergency response center, they can figure out where the phone is pretty quickly on their computers (I assume they can, I don't see why they couldn't, I mean, they should be able to triangulate the location from phone towers in the area, right?), and appropriate emergency services, not an all-out thing that would be sent on a hang-up, can be dispatched.
This would allow for somewhat specific calls for help to be sent in a very small amount of time, and they would be completely silent as well.
...Okay, i've read through this thread and pretty much everything has been said at least once now, so i have decided to post it all:
No, Texting is NOT a good idea for 911.
No matter how fast you can text, you still must direct the text to a number. the quick and also silent 'call and hang up' method will therefore always be faster, and still garnish a response, if not a faster one than texting.
While it is much harder to accidently text 911, the only way this would be of any benefit, is if we had text as the only way to contact 911. Which i think everyone knows is a bad idea.(hopefully)
Practical jokes could be a reasonable problem. While yes, if you really wanted to prank 911, calling with the payphone up the street would work the best. But that would require work. A group of drunken teens, for instance, wouldn't probably go all the way as use the payphone. The texting would allow them to make the prank without having to think about the consequences or interact with another human being.
One or two people brought up deaf people, one person going so far as to say txting would be the only way for them to reach police. While simply calling 911 might be two slow for deaf people bleading to death, Making 911 services everywhere accessable to texting might be overkill when we already have a service for deaf people to use in emergencies called TDDs (telecommunications device for the deaf)
RECAP FOR THOSE WHO GENERALY DONT READ POSTS before being stupid and posting things already said:
Calling 911 and not saying anything is faster, quieter, and easier to trace than txt messages
Accidently calling 911 will happen with or without texting, it doesn't factor into this argument.
Txting makes pranking 911 more accessable.
Deaf people have special 911 services, (see http://www.nirmalpatel.com/blog/2009/02/24.html for more info)
and finally the most compelling of arguments:
OMG nEd hlp, 2 ppl R in mI hous, lked up wfe n kds & lkn 4 mE. Cn hav ur hlp? kthxbai! lol
No, Texting is NOT a good idea for 911.
No matter how fast you can text, you still must direct the text to a number. the quick and also silent 'call and hang up' method will therefore always be faster, and still garnish a response, if not a faster one than texting.
While it is much harder to accidently text 911, the only way this would be of any benefit, is if we had text as the only way to contact 911. Which i think everyone knows is a bad idea.(hopefully)
Practical jokes could be a reasonable problem. While yes, if you really wanted to prank 911, calling with the payphone up the street would work the best. But that would require work. A group of drunken teens, for instance, wouldn't probably go all the way as use the payphone. The texting would allow them to make the prank without having to think about the consequences or interact with another human being.
One or two people brought up deaf people, one person going so far as to say txting would be the only way for them to reach police. While simply calling 911 might be two slow for deaf people bleading to death, Making 911 services everywhere accessable to texting might be overkill when we already have a service for deaf people to use in emergencies called TDDs (telecommunications device for the deaf)
RECAP FOR THOSE WHO GENERALY DONT READ POSTS before being stupid and posting things already said:
Calling 911 and not saying anything is faster, quieter, and easier to trace than txt messages
Accidently calling 911 will happen with or without texting, it doesn't factor into this argument.
Txting makes pranking 911 more accessable.
Deaf people have special 911 services, (see http://www.nirmalpatel.com/blog/2009/02/24.html for more info)
and finally the most compelling of arguments:
OMG nEd hlp, 2 ppl R in mI hous, lked up wfe n kds & lkn 4 mE. Cn hav ur hlp? kthxbai! lol
vdgmprgrmr: Yes that could work, if we could track cellphones that fast... doesn't work that fast, unfortunatly.
also, 911 is only 911 because of it's simplicity... having a step by step thing like that would either take too much time in an emergency or require everyone to memorize what to do...
i don't think it would be practical enough.
also, 911 is only 911 because of it's simplicity... having a step by step thing like that would either take too much time in an emergency or require everyone to memorize what to do...
i don't think it would be practical enough.
Most compelling? More like most unlikely...You have some reasonable points and thanks for summarizing the entire thread (not really but it looks like it took a while so I appreciate your determination) but I still think it should be at least looked into by police forces or the government or whatever.Yayaplives said: