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Amusement rides triggering accidental 911 calls from smartphones and smartwatches

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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Dispatchers in one East Tennessee county say they're seeing a 150 percent spike this year in mistaken 911 calls.


I hope smartphone and smartwatch makers can quickly fix this problem of causing phones to accidentally dial 911 while on a fast amusement park ride like a roller coaster.
 
froggyboy604 said:
Dispatchers in one East Tennessee county say they're seeing a 150 percent spike this year in mistaken 911 calls.


I hope smartphone and smartwatch makers can quickly fix this problem of causing phones to accidentally dial 911 while on a fast amusement park ride like a roller coaster.
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Me too man or dispatchers will have to deal with the mistaken 911 calls that come in. I'm not sure how fast amusement park rides can make someone's cellphone call 911, but sure hope they find a fix for the issue.
 
Crazy, this is something I wouldn't expect, but since this sounds like a reoccurring problem, I hope they find the trigger and a workaround to fix it. But it would be unfortunate if there really was an emergency later that was related to the ride, I wouldn't want it to be like the Boy Who Cried Wolf.
 
I watch a video which says smartphones accidentally dialing 911 mainly happen with Apple iPhone and Apple Watch from users accidentally pressing on the side buttons on the iPhone. Users need to go into the settings to turn off the side buttons to dial 911. Using a case could reduce the chance of iPhone users accidentally dialing 911 when their phone is in a purse or pocket where the buttons can be pressed.


Hopefully, smartphone users learn how to prevent accidental 911 calls from holding down buttons by accident, and other methods of accidentally dialing 911.
 
Not for amusement park rides but I had this problem with my previous Samsung phone. It would sometimes accidently activate the emergency call function in my pocket and I would have to cut the call quickly. Had to disable that feature very quickly.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
Wait, what? How and why?
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There is a feature where if you triple tap the power button quickly (might be three or four times not sure), it calls the emergency services. If you have tight jeans and other things in your pocket, there is a chance it gets triggered accidently.
 
Oh! I can see why that would be an issue and how it's being triggered. They should have a shortcut to indicate that they're about to ride on a rollercoaster or quickly (temporarily) deactivate the feature so false alerts won't happen.
 
I think smartphones should automatically turn the feature off the 911 button press when there are many other people are near by like when riding a roller coaster, so there are fewer automatic 911 calls from smartphones.

I heard using a case or smartphone holster/holder which make it harder to press the power and volume buttons by accident can prevent accidental 911 calls from accidental button presses.
 
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With all this technology, you'd think phones would be "smart" & not dial when a human isn't dialing it!
 
I wonder if some of these accidental calls are actually intentional because some curious person want to try out the 911 call feature which they can activate by pressing on the power button a few times, or intentionally running with a smartphone in their pocket or purse to see if the phone can activate the 911 call feature.
 
froggyboy604 said:
I wonder if some of these accidental calls are actually intentional because some curious person want to try out the 911 call feature which they can activate by pressing on the power button a few times, or intentionally running with a smartphone in their pocket or purse to see if the phone can activate the 911 call feature.
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I think the phones in question should be liable for the calls as you could get in big trouble for dialing when there's not a problem.
 
Artisan Vistra said:
I think the phones in question should be liable for the calls as you could get in big trouble for dialing when there's not a problem.
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I agree the companies should be liable for accidental 911 dialing, and more quickly fix 911 accidental problem before many people get hurt when the police respond to an accidental 911 call which may broadcasts explosion sounds from a video game or movie during a call.

Hopefully, there are not many people who go to jail, pay expensive false 911 call tickets, and become a victim of police violence because their phone accidentally dialed 911 which cause the police to rush over to their location because the 911 dispatcher overheard an action movie with angry arguments, explosions and gun shot sounds in the plot during the accidental 911 calls.
 
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