Documentation -

[kyburg]

I wrote a letter this morning to my Congressbabe and my Governator.

I'd place this under "Budget & Taxes" except it impacts "Crime & Law Enforcement" as heavily.

I had the opportunity yesterday to discover just how futile having a cell phone in an emergency is.

At the corner of 190th Street and Vermont Avenue in Gardena yesterday, my husband and I were the first responders to a car fire that began after what appeared to be a collision with another vehicle.

He managed to get the occupants of both cars to safety and began directing traffic; I was left to call it in on 911 with the two cell phones I carry. (I have a cell phone through one telecom service my work requires me to have, and I have another one for my own personal use.)

Neither one could reach 911 emergency services. The lines were busy.

I was able to convince one of the three 411 operators I was able to reach to contact the fire department for me. I had a car fire fully involved, and injuries. Lucky for us, the 411 operator took me seriously and passed the message on as I gave it to her - we had a wonderful response with at least two fire houses responding within three minutes, plus a paramedic squad.

But I could not reach 911. At all. Never did.

I plan to lodge a complaint with both the cell phone provider companies, if only to notify them of the problem.

But have we gotten so cheap that we place people in danger like this?

Your help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

--

For my records, and your entertainment value. Let's see what kind of response I get.

Comments

[lorriejharris.livejournal.com]

Wow! How positively sad that you couldn't get through! And I'm so glad you and Jim had the presense of mind to keep cool heads and help those people. *Appaluse, kudos, and lots of chocolate*

Please keep us updated on the cellphone response. I'm very interested to see what comes of this.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

It's been common knowledge for some time that you can't rely on 911 to get an emergency call through. But because most cell companies route 911 calls to an agency not local to where you might be at the time -

This was a circuit busy. Both services. Multiple tries.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Wow. I didn't know about this at all - thanks for letting me know. I now feel a lot better about not having a cellphone.

I was under the impression that 911 service on a cellphone was supposed to go to the highway patrol, at least if you were calling from the highway?

[phoenix--rising.livejournal.com]

There goes the safety argument for reasons why to have a cellphone ~.~