He answers a 911 call to hear a confused person on the other line wondering how they called the number. Knowingly, she asks, “Was your phone in a cup holder?” They say, “Yes,” and she launches into her explanation. On an iPhone 8 or later, an emergency SOS call can be made by holding down both side buttons at the same time. A new screen appears and soon a countdown begins and an alert sounds. If no action is taken, a 911 call is triggered. McLean says this sequence of events often happens by accident when iPhones are jammed into cup holders. “Sometimes it’s kids playing, sometimes someone accidentally calls — all of that. But the vast majority of the time, we blame the bouncers,” said McLean, assistant deputy chief of Red Deer’s Emergency Communications 911 Centre, in an interview with the Calgary Eyeopener. “We try to train them one at a time.” They have also launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the issue. It’s another beautiful weekend in Central Alberta!!
Every weekend we get hundreds of random calls from cell phones in cup holders. While we love to hear all your good times everyone is connecting an emergency line.
This weekend pic.twitter.com/Ou9jIn0uKP —@RedDeer911 In June, the center received about 15,000 calls, of which about 3,500 were false calls, McLean says. These calls are taking much-needed resources away from a team that serves more than 453,000 people in about 70 communities, from Leduc to Airdrie and from BC to the Saskatchewan border. “If you don’t answer me… We really have to call you manually,” McLean said. “If you don’t answer the phone, that’s another problem because if I heard something funny or suspicious, we have to get the police involved because we’re just not sure about the security.” An example of the emergency screen that appears when the iPhone SOS feature is turned on. (Apple) It’s not just a problem for Red Deer’s emergency center. In a statement, Magni Magnason, deputy commander of Calgary 911, said they receive 300 to 400 random 911 calls a day.
“One contributing factor is the emergency call feature on the iPhone,” Magnason said. “It most commonly happens when the phone is placed in a pocket, bag or cup holder. It can also happen when an alarm goes off or someone tries to adjust the volume of the music.” Calls from unregistered cell phones are the second most common type of accidental 911 call in Calgary. Wrong keys also happen with some Androids and earlier iPhones when certain buttons are pressed quickly. To reduce the chances of calling 911 incorrectly, you may want to change your phone settings, Magnason said. You can add an extra step to the process by requiring someone to swipe the phone screen before the call is made. If you want to keep your features the same and call 911 by mistake, the most important thing is to stay on the line, says McLean. “Tell us you’re safe and it’s much quicker for us to have this conversation.” But her advice? Just keep your phone away from cup holders. 6:56#Just Say No to cup holders Why Red Deer 9-1-1 Emergency Call Center wants iPhone users to #JustSayNo to cup holders.