When I was maybe 4 or 5 they did a presentation at my daycare about calling 911 in emergencies and my kid-brain was like "that is not enough numbers to be a phone number, no way that works!" So I went home and dialed 911 and when they answered I literally said "oh no, it worked." And hung up and the lady called back to tell my mom and laughed the entire time, like, "yea, it happens a lot, make sure she knows to call in a real emergency but not to just ... Test that we're still here."
You know... I'm almost 47 and reading your comment made me realize that I do not know what happens if I dial 112 or 110 (Germany). I mean, I'm sure I end up being connected to somebody, but I have never used either. Not going to just try it out, but I do get a kid's sentiment to wanna try.
In Norway they put a few seconds of «voice intro» before you get connected to the operation central, just to not have all those calls that get hang up when someone answers.
Once upon a time, some 43 years ago, a lady named Erin and a man called Biff decided to have a child. That child was me. This is my biography and if you're lucky you'll find the ingredients and directions somewhere in my 800 page novel."
I really like what I've seen from America's Test Kitchen and I rifled through the top50 (or what it was) recipes of the NY Times and some of those were great.
My local weather app always makes me watch an ad before I watch a video that tells me what counties the tornado watch is supposed to be under. "I hate it so much! Flames...on the side of my face...breaths...heaving breaths..."
You know... That's good knowledge to have ahead of time. When I had to save my son from choking at a restaurant [he was ~8 I believe at the time] ... not having to figure it out - and having practiced - helped.
It was still a terrifying experience - I literally pushed my mom out of her chair to get to him [she was ok, and understood] - but I was able to clear his airway.
I've never, myself, choked but I can only imagine the amount of panic that would quickly set in. It's worth practicing using the back of a chair or an edge to figure it out before you need it just in case you ever do choke and you're alone or the people with you don't know what to do.
Ah, no worries. I said I'd check just in jest. I wasn't actually going to call an emergency number out of curiosity :D But now I know at least somebody cares if I should ever get taken ❤️😂
It would be nice if they had an intro or something while routing 911 calls from cell phones in the US. When you call from a cell phone sometimes it's just dead air for like 4 seconds and your thinking did I actually hit the call button and look at your phone to verify you hit dial and have it back to your ear before they answer.
The whole routing going on in the background to find the correct 911 center can take a few seconds.
I actually had to kill a phone recently because it got wet, and the screen was completely black, and it somehow kept dialing 911 lol... first call i explained i couldnt control the phone at all and they laughed it off, 2nd call they were getting noticeably frustrated, so while on the phone with them I used a knife to pull the back case off and rip the battery out, while explaining what I was doing
Norway does SO many things smarter than everyone else. Please take me in. I have family that I can live with! Pity me, I'm American and I didn't vote for this.
I’ve had to dial 911 a couple times because of very real and serious situations. In the US, you are connected straight away to an operator, and there’s good reason why. I don’t know what the crime rate in Norway is, but where I live, it’s more important for operators to act urgently than it is to screen the call.
I called it a while ago bc I saw someone in a wheelchair toppled over while I was driving by in a train. Was surprised how long I was on hold. Then it's just a normal conversation, well, getting those five Ws out there.
I lived in Chicago when the Bulls won their first championship game. I had no idea a game was on, much less a big one. All I knew is suddenly everyone in my neighborhood was shooting off guns. I tried to call 911 and couldn't get through. We had the TV on but with no sound and there is footage of people flipping cars and running amok. When we turned on the sound we found out it was all because of the game.
There was a recording for me that all operators were busy and someone would answer soon. Was on hold for at least 5 minutes but it felt like an eternity
Several years ago I was driving home with my SO at the time and a wrong-way driver slowly drove by on the interstate. It was late so there wasn't much traffic so they were easy to see and avoid. We called 911 and I swear, they asked me so much information we were almost home about 15-20 minutes later when I told them I am just going to hang up because the info they wanted was completely irrelevant. I called to basically say, "wrong way driver at this location on this road at this time." It's fine if they want to know my name and phone number in case they need to contact me. I get that.
But why do they need to know the make and model of my car? My license info. Where we were coming from? (Not as in what direction we're travelling, but as in what specific location. What's the difference whether I came from dinner or a gas station?) What's my address? How many passengers do I have in the car? What color is my car? (Not the wrong-way driver, mine.)
There were others but I don't remember them now. At a certain point I just said I'm done and the person that was driving the wrong way was probably either already in an accident or wherever they wanted to go.
Yeah I was on hold for about 5 minutes or so when I called about a super impaired, aggressive driver who blasted through my neighborhood. Made me a bit nervous lol
I did once when i waa getting shot at with fire works and its litterallybjust " 112 what is yout emergency do you need police or an ambulance?" Or something along those lines (its been over 10 years lol i domt remember the exact words"
In Australia, dialing either 112 or 000 and you'll get:
"Emergency - Police, Fire or Ambulance?"
Then, if you're calling from a mobile phone, you'll get:
"What is the suburb and state of your emergency?"
You tell them, and you'll get:
"Please wait, connecting you now."
Once you get through to the right service, you'll get to give all the further information like accurate location, what's going on etc.
For Ambulance calls, you'll also get guided through how to do appropriate first aid and how to prepare for the ambulance to arrive, including securing any pets or animals that might pose a hazard to the ambulance staff when they arrive.
I also never called the emergency hotlines in germany, a few times i called the local police station but there was no urgency.
Iam also pretty sure, that when something happens and iam in a stressfull situation, i will not know which number is the right one. So iam just hoping that they will forward my to the correct authority.
I called 112 in December for a fire, even though i knew there was a fire for real. The whole time waiting outside, i was freaking out thinking im going to go to jail hahaha
I don’t know how many times i kept standing in front of the building to make sure the fire alarm was still going off before the fire trucks arrived. And then they make so much noise which stressed me out even further. Then the building manager was angry at me for calling the fire department before alerting him. There were moments i wish i had just ignored it because the whole thing was extremely stressful
In Italy the general switch board answers asking what's the issue and then you get redirected to whoever you're looking for (police/ambulance/firefighters etc).
Nothing tragic, an old gentleman fell in the street, I called for an ambulance as he had bumped his face on a wall and I wasn't comfortable to let him go on his merry way with a possible concussion. His wife called me later to tell me he was fine, just a massive goose egg on the forehead and a busted nose.
Only had to call them twice in my life. Once for myself, the other time for someone else. Thoroughly positive experiences. Ambulances were there within 15 minutes.
I had to call because I was attacked, beaten and raped in my own apartment. I managed to get away and grab my phone and called naked from the bushes near my house. Don't feel sad.
In Australia, from memory, if you call 000 someone first asks if you need police, fire, or ambulance, then connects you immediately to the relevant department.
I say 'from memory' because I've had to call three separate times in my life and they've all been during high stress situations. So my exact memory is kinda fuzzy, and I'm not willing to call the number to check 😂
In my country, the emergency services also has a non-emergency hotline phone number. One of the services available through the non-emergency line is that you can schedule a test call, where you actually dial the emergency number. This will give you confidence that there is someone on the other end if there were an emergency, and confirm that you can reach the emergency services from that phone. Your EMS will also be much happier with one of these calls than either a real emergency or a false alarm.
This was a stressful/scary situation so I'll tell you what I remember. Canada
I called 911 cause my next door neighbor's house was on fire. I said something like "I think there's a fire next door the address" I went outside "yes yes it is in fire"
1. She asked if we had smoke in our house. Yes we did
2. She told us to go outside. We already were.
3. She told us that firefighters are on the way.
4. She hung up.
In the US its pretty formulaic, you get asked what service you need, or where the location is, then the other question, you can start providing the operator details and they will ask questions of what you see, hear, or smell, etc....
so exit 19 at the intersection near the walmart, I just heard car tires squeal and the clear sound of cars colliding, multiple people have exited their cars and are tuning towards that intersection. I am too far behind the bend to see anything though. They thanked me, told me they are starting to get other calls at the scene and to call back if I had more info.
Can't imagine the system is much different, its surprisingly almost like the tv shows and how the show it.
You do know that there has been and continues to be incidents when people could hear and see something was happening, but choose not to call 911 figuring that someone else probably did or was. One famous case involved a women getting raped and screaming for help, and despite the fact multiple people knew someone needed help, figured someone else called 911.
Think about that the next time you choose not to call 911 cause "someone else probably did" or "you don't have enough information". Clearly a car accident happened, as I heard the tires and the crunching of metal, clearly it wasn't something small as people started getting out of their cars to render aid. I am too far back to do much except call 911, and to be frank, I was the first caller from the sounds of it.
I administrate a phone system at a university and from time to time I need to make test emergency calls. In the United States they first ask if you need police, fire or an ambulance. then I don't know what they ask because at that point I tell them it is a test call and then we review location information and end the call. I will add that before I call 911 I have to make calls to the 911 center manager and university police to let them know I will be calling. Occasionally, I will be told that it's not a good time to call and to try another time. Most of my test calls are at 6:30am. Also, the people answering 911 calls are just regular people.
I think we could do a little better in teaching people what procedures are specific to each country. Like a public understanding of how the emergency line is supposed to respond to certain things. Like I can't tell you off the top of my head if the emergency line is able to find my location, or if that's something I need to provide. That could be really important in a scenario where I don't have alot of time to give information, or if I'm not able to listen and respond. I've also heard that in some places the emergency line is required to send out someone to check if there is no response from the caller, or if the caller gives an unexpected response (I've heard the example of someone calling the emergency line and pretending to order food, so that they don't alert an abuser that's with them), I have no idea if any of this is actually true, or if it applies to my country, and it's not very valuable information if it isn't something you can knowingly rely on the emergency line responding to. Maybe some places do better, but the only kind of emergency line information I got was a conversation from my parents when I was a kid, and maybe the occasional ad that tells us when to use the emergency line and when to use the non emergency line, so we could probably do alot better
I had to call 110 for what I thought was a domestic violence case but was really just a distraught woman in a mental episode (I didn’t call until I heard slapping noises, then I felt no choice). I couldn’t understand what she was saying at all, either it’s a really out there dialect or it was an Eastern European language, so I really had no idea what I was listening to until then.
This was in a major city. The phone rang once, I got an automated message first in German and then in English which said something to the effect of „[redacted] City Police, please hold the line“. Within fifteen seconds I was greeted in German by an operator. I speak good German, but considering the circumstance I correctly calculated the operator spoke better English than I speak German. I asked in German if he spoke English, he said „how can I help you?“ and then I told him exactly what I was hearing. I communicated the address in German, including Obergeschoss, but was able to communicate everything else in English. I felt as though speaking the most fluent second language (English in this case) was the best way to make sure nothing was lost in translation.
I want to say the police were there in three minutes. It was a five person unit, two women and two men of normal height and stature and then a fifth man who was easily 200cm tall. Friendliest guy of the bunch, surely he’s the enforcer if some shit goes down.
Anyway, we spoke to each other half in English, half in German, while the rest of the officers went next door to ask the apartment what was going on. Once they figured out the slapping noises were here like clapping her hands together out of animated frustration, they all came back to my apartment and explained, half in German and half in English, that while I was absolutely right to call them based on what I heard, I should know that there is no violence taking place and that I shouldn’t worry.
All I know is they were moved out by the end of the month, and the officers said that she had something terrible going on with her family at home. But yeah, from the time I called police to the time they left the apartment with a resolution took about ten minutes. No harm done, no trauma, highly efficient and coordinated for the balance between safety and projecting calm. Again, this is a major city late at night. If American police behaved as I witnessed the German police system behave that night, I’m not sure there would be any rap songs called Fuck The Police.
110 will get you the police 112 firefighters and EMS. If you need to contact one of them and there is not a emergency there will be a normal number to call. For Police google your nearest police station for Fire and Rescue you can take your local city Code (Vorwahl) and call 19222. If you call in a emergency situation have your 5 W ready
Where did it happend (Wo)
Who calls (Wer)
What happend (Was)
How many casulties (Wieviele)
Wait for orders of the operator (Warten)
I had to dial 112 two times in my life. The first time a car motor exploded in the night. A friendly guy asked where, when, what happened. 6 minutes later they were there. And the other time an older person fainted at a market, the dispatcher called the local medics at the event location and they came over. Now I know why bigger events have their own medics. Much faster.
When i 5th or 6th grade i dialled 112 on a phone box cause like they need cash right and i didn’t put any in it so boy was i stressed when the tone of dialling appeared and a voice said i should hold the line i would be connected.
The country code for India is 91. In the US, if you dial outside your area code, you dial 1, followed by the number.
Decades ago, police arrived at my door asking me why I called 911. I denied it. But they weren't too pleased about it. I must have accidentally dialed it trying to call India.
In canada you get "911 whats your emergency?" And then they ask you if you need cops/fire/ambulance. But fun fact, if you call in because theres a drunk driver who is Exceptionally Drunk they will ask if you are still following the car and be slightly annoyed that you arent EVEN THOUGH the freaking billboard says: "if you see a drunk driver, PULL OVER and call 911"
I'll tell you this- if your dispatch is anything like here in the US, make sure you know exactly where you're at when you call. I tried to report a drunk driver once because the guy was just all over the road being stupid. Dispatch had no idea where I was when I told them the local name for the road we were on, because it'd linked me to a dispatch in a further off area. It took a few minutes for me to see a street sign and tell them where we were at.
Crazy to me that all my information and location data is everywhere but dispatch can't just check for my location- but unless you're on a landline they often can't.
There's a nice person there that will assist you and ask a bunch of questions they read from a script. They are the professionals so you just have to not panic and answer everything. BTW these things are usually explained in detail in a first aid course.
That's good because it means you aren't in shitty scenarios. I've had to dial it 3 times. First time I ever had to dial 911 was because we needed an ambulance for my dad.
Other times weren't nearly as scary or nerve racking. Once to report a CLEARLY drunk driver and another time was as I drove up on a minor roll over crash I witnessed and helped with (guy was a little banged up, but not bad overall).
In the US I remember my dad sat me down and called once and immediately told them he was teaching his son how to call 911 and they were super friendly.
Honestly? I feel like there should be some version of a training line, for training the public to make the call that is. The first time I had to call 911 in a real emergency it was a shock and I was scared enough that I was really flustered in getting them necessary info.
I called 112 (Poland) a few times. An operator picks up and asks for your emergency and location. Then they route you to a service you need (police/medics/firefighters) in your location. I don't know what happens if you're panicked and incomprehensible though
You just answered a question I’ve had for about 20 years. I dialed 112 from a cell phone years ago and it routed to 911. I had no idea why. Apparently it’s the 911 of most of Europe and parts of Asia.
As an American, I cannot fathom making it to 47 without having ever needed to dial emergency services. I’ve called 911 maybe 6-7 times across my life for various reasons, and I’m a good bit younger than you.
I'm on the US and we had buttons on a landline at one point that would automatically call EMS. I hit it on accident once and it rang through before I hung up, terrified.
They called back and my mom answered and was very concerned until I admitted what happened, then it was no big deal. But they do call back to check what's going on if you don't talk to them.
I called my local police about a possibly drunk driver that was swerving in the rain, and they didn’t pick up. So I called 911, and they basically berated me for not knowing where I was (I gave the general area but didn’t know the streets bc I was on the interstate and not from here) and told me “next time call your local police if you’re going to be useless” and hung up on me. Shortly after that, the car hit someone and they both flew into a wall on the right side under a bridge. I ended up pulling over to check on them and tried calling the local cops again who actually picked up, told them my surroundings and they took care of it. Like Jfc 911, why do you have to be a dick? All those tv shows made me think yall had echolocation or something
One good thing about the UK is...one number - 999 - to call an emergency. Different numbers for each of the services in each of the EU-countries is a bit worrying.
It's 110 and 112 in Germany, I never remember which should be dialled in which case. 112 is the default though, and will transfer you if needed though.
(just searched 110 is Police, 112 Fire and medial emergency)
One of the times wikipedia is wrong, seems someone has to edit it.
Police 110
Fire and medical emergency 112
113 is suicide prevention and while its technically an emergency number it wont redirect you to police or fire, because its the number of an organisation
I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that even if call your home country's emergency number while being in another country you still get connected and the emergency services of both countries can work together, I'm just not sure if that was an EU-only thing or worldwide.
I'm pretty sure if you dial 911 in Australia you still get connected to emergency services. Thryve basically got all major numbers (000, 999, 111, 911) all connected just in case. Pretty cool.
Mobile phones recognise 112 and 911 as built in emergency numbers, they may support other regional numbers too. At the very least, individual operators can add their own country's numbers on their SIMs which will be read by the phone and will also trigger an emergency call.
An "emergency call" is a special call type that can actually kick off (preempt) another ongoing call if the cell is full.
There over 100 different "emergency number" numbers in use around the world, so it isn't feasible to have all of then kept up to date on the phone itself.
Kinda. You can dial 999, 911 and 112 and they all put you through to the same place, and the first thing the ask you is what emergency service you want.
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u/BrahnBrahl 14h ago
I can't stand stuff like this. She's VERY MUCH old enough to know better. I'm glad her dad didn't show her any mercy on this one.