Then if you crossed state lines and suddenly had an emergency you’d be shit out of luck.
In the western US the states are so large you can drive for hours in any direction and not leave the state. In the north east you can drive for two hours and cross three state lines.
Before 911 the phone company (there was only one phone company) had operators standing by 24/7. If you had an emergency but didn’t know the phone number of the local police or fire department then you could just dial zero (“dial oh for operator”) and they would connect you.
Outside of what everyone else has said, my assumption is that most people would just start using Siri or Google assistant or whatever to tell their phone to dial emergency services for them and your phone would dial the correct number based on your location. Still a horrible idea though
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Why would they? The point of 911 is it’s simple, everyone knows it, and it works everywhere,
People would die.
they would have their own number, but redirect other states numbers to the correct place anyway.
as far as i am aware dialing other countries emergency numbers often work. Like 999 in australia gets redirected to 000
That’s the dumbest idea lol.
People would call the wrong number constantly. Horrible idea.
We’d get a lot of “wrong numbers” at the worst time
The one-liner joke of “Quick! What’s the number for 911?!” Would be more of a reality than a joke.
They did. In fact it was far more local than that.
It wasn’t convenient at all, because you had to know it.
Then if you crossed state lines and suddenly had an emergency you’d be shit out of luck.
In the western US the states are so large you can drive for hours in any direction and not leave the state. In the north east you can drive for two hours and cross three state lines.
Before 911 the phone company (there was only one phone company) had operators standing by 24/7. If you had an emergency but didn’t know the phone number of the local police or fire department then you could just dial zero (“dial oh for operator”) and they would connect you.
No operators and no 911 you would be screwed.
What do you think everyone had before 911? Carrier pigeons?
Let’s just keep it at 911……please!
Then you’d be in trouble if you were vacationing in another state and forgot the emergency number(s).
Outside of what everyone else has said, my assumption is that most people would just start using Siri or Google assistant or whatever to tell their phone to dial emergency services for them and your phone would dial the correct number based on your location. Still a horrible idea though
0118 999 881 999 119 725…3.
They can. Using 911 as the emergency number is entirely voluntary.