A bunch of asses tie up 911 lines

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/accidental-911-calls-38-emergency-calls-nyc-butt-160639687.html

Have you ever "butt-dialed" 911? If you have, you're not alone--especially if you live in New York City.

According to a new report, "accidental" calls to 911 accounted for about 38 percent of all emergency calls in the Big Apple in 2010. Of the 10.4 million calls fielded by the city's 911 system, 3,910,373 were inadvertent, according to the Daily News.

That's an average of 10,700 false calls a day, the paper said. Police cars were dispatched to about 3.5 million of all the emergency calls received, according to the report.

The study blamed the alarming number of accidental 911 calls on the "increased proliferation of cellular telephones."

"Despite the findings," NBC's New York affiliate noted, "the report says the city has done nothing to account for or combat the accidental 911 calls, which are generally shorter than calls reporting actual emergencies. The influx of those calls ultimately makes overall 911 response times appear shorter, the report said."

The report, made public on Friday, was commissioned by the mayor's office following criticism of Mayor Bloomberg's slow response to a 2010 blizzard that paralyzed the city.

The "butt-dial" problem is not limited to New York. Last year, CBS Chicago reported that 20 percent of emergency calls to 911 operators in Evanston, Ill., were unintentional.

"I don't think the public realizes how often this happens," Evanston 911 coordinator Perry Polinski told the station.

I have NEVER dialed 911 on my cell phone, on purpose or by accident.

(I have done so accidentally from my work phone before. It's one of those pesky ones where you have to dial 9, then 1, then the number... Well, evidently if you accidentally dial a 1 instead of a 2 for the first digit of the number, it goes direct to emergency services.)

I dialed *HP today to report a power line explosion and high winds, but there was no answer. That's not a good sign. I chalked it up to bad cell phone receptin, but I kept an eye out for zombies

I've dialed it once. Probably had something to do with the flipping Civic in my rear view mirror.

I call regularly at work, though never by accident

On a semi related note, last week I was dispatched to house who's elderly owner thought was on fire (it wasn't). When I was getting her information she said that 911 wouldn't work from her phone so she had to run to the neighbor's house to make the call. When I asked her to show me the phone, she handed me a cordless (non-cell) phone. Turns out, she dialed 911 and then just waited. She needed to push the "Talk" button for it to dial and, in her panic, forgot. I made a test call and it worked fine.

Just something to keep in mind for when the E36 M3 hits the fan.

I've dialed it when I witnessed a car wreck in a place that I had no idea what the non-emergency number was.

Called once for an out-of-control grass fire. Wound up burning through about 8 acres of 30 foot evergreens. Quite a fire.

I have butt dialed several times. You can still call from a locked cell phone if your butt knows the right keys.

I've dialed in when a gunfight erupted near my house. I also have dialed the Sherrif's dispatch desk a few times for non-critical requests to send a squad car (noise disturbance, etc.)

mtn wrote: I've dialed it when I witnessed a car wreck in a place that I had no idea what the non-emergency number was.

I did when passing an automobile fire on the highway....they had already been notified

JohnInKansas wrote: ... I have butt dialed several times. You can still call from a locked cell phone if your butt knows the right keys.

Happens to me all the time when the phone is "locked" (Great design there) The first time I got a call from 911 and didn't answer. Then 911 people started sent a text that said "if you need help dial 911" I just thought it was a prank because my phone was still "locked". Later on I check my call records and found out I was on the line with them like 20 minutes before they must have gotten bored of listening in and hung up...?

Joe and I once witnessed a "domestic disturbance" while stopped for a red light in Vegas. By the time the operator finished saying "Las Vegas 911, please state your emergency," a police car was on the scene. (Okay, turns out he was stopped for the same red light and also saw things go down.)

I thought this was going to be about some dude named Helmut in Stuttgart.

4X since I've had a cell. Once each for separate vehicle accidents in front of my house, once I caught two teenagers breaking in the neighbors car at 2:30 a.m. (three squad cars arrived on scene in 2-3 minutes) and once a couple months ago for a dead deer laying in the middle of a sweeping turn people like to speed through.

I never give my name when they request it, hey they have my number if they need to talk further. Oddly enough, after providing my name and address to PD after the neighbors vehicle break-in the PD ran my name through wants and warrants... I heard it shortly later on the scanner.

Used it once on a cell when a power line was draped over my cable/phone lines and then caught the pole in my back yard on fire.

Had it not been for good cable installation, my garage and house would have probably gone up in smoke (the cable guy grounded the cable line as it entered the house, so it melted to the ground, as opposed to burning my house).

fasted58 wrote: I never give my name when they request it, hey they have my number if they need to talk further. Oddly enough, after providing my name and address to PD after the neighbors vehicle break-in the PD ran my name through wants and warrants... I heard it shortly later on the scanner.

If I want to stay anonomous I call from a payphone and hang up once they get what they need

What is this 'pay phone' you speak of? I haven't seen one of those down here in probably 10 years. Even the homeless people have cell phones.

Old cell phones with actual buttons would call 911 when you pushed the keys 08 even with the keyboard locked. That happened to me once when I had my phone in my pocket working on a car at the junkyard and they sent a sheriff to see what was going on, once I explained what happened it was no big deal though.

Only ever called 911 one time, well really I told Tiff to call as I ran across the street because the neighbors fence was on fire. The wind easily could have pushed it into the side of there house and on the other side of the fence was an empty lot with LOTS of dry grass (middle of August). I got the fire out before the fire dept even showed up (there was a hose on that side of their yard). I still get cookies from them every now and then.

Calling 911 in Atlanta: "Hey, have you been informed about the overturned car on 75 South at Moore's Mill yet?"

"Yes, sir. thank you for calling."

not sure about 911... but I discovered yesterday that my phone texted something to my place of work without me doing anything. Evidently work called, which temporarily turned off the touch screen lock.. and I must have hit the "send message" button rather than picking the phone up.

Thing is.. I do not know what text message my phone sends if I decide not to answer a call with that option

On my old Treo 650's lock screen, the "Dial 911 RIGHT NOW" button was less than 2mm to the right of the "Enter Unlock Code" button and over twice as wide, but at least it cancelled the call if you quickly hammered END like the fire button on an '80s video game.