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Yet another example of capitalism run amuck letting people die in the name of profits. The phone companies COULD upgrade to newer technology right now, but tha

Yet another example of capitalism run amuck letting people die in the name of profits. The phone companies COULD upgrade to newer technology right now, but that would cost money. Or... They could wait until it is a crisis and then DEMAND that municipal governments pay for the upgrade. Which would you do?

maxerickson 10y ago
Why would it become a crisis? Crime is down so access to emergency services at least isn't becoming more urgent over time. And the necessary technology is slowly being deployed and integrated, so in that respect time should improve the situation, not make it worse.
- joesmo 10y ago
  I think those people who really needed 911 services and died because the services couldn't get to them would disagree slightly with you if they could and so would their families. But it's not a crisis; it's just a bunch of people dying. No big deal.
  - ZenoArrow 10y ago
    Broadcasting GPS won't be as effective at improving emergency services compared to having a better distribution of services. As you can see in this thread, dispatchers can already get an approximate location from phone data, that's good enough to start sending someone over to your location straight away. What would really slow them down is if they have to travel a long distance to get to you, that's the problem to fix if you're interested in response times.
  - wccrawford 10y ago
    This question came up because of a John Olliver segment about this in which he said that emergency services claims they cannot pinpoint 20% (1 in 5!) people via existing systems. He emphasized that number and tried to make a big deal of it, neglecting to mention that it really only matters in situations where the person can't describe their location anyhow. He gave an example of someone who was in a car in a lake, and gave the 911 operator the names of the streets from the nearby sign and they were unable to find one of the streets on their map. The person died. So people are dying from this already. And I'm sure the families are already making as much noise as they can. In the end, the answer is: Despite our crazy headlong rush into technology, not everything is as advanced as we'd like, and there are various reasons why not. From conspiracies to capitalism to good old fashioned privacy, it just isn't there yet.

maxerickson 10y ago

Why would it become a crisis? Crime is down so access to emergency services at least isn't becoming more urgent over time. And the necessary technology is slowly being deployed and integrated, so in that respect time should improve the situation, not make it worse.

joesmo 10y ago
I think those people who really needed 911 services and died because the services couldn't get to them would disagree slightly with you if they could and so would their families. But it's not a crisis; it's just a bunch of people dying. No big deal.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  Broadcasting GPS won't be as effective at improving emergency services compared to having a better distribution of services. As you can see in this thread, dispatchers can already get an approximate location from phone data, that's good enough to start sending someone over to your location straight away. What would really slow them down is if they have to travel a long distance to get to you, that's the problem to fix if you're interested in response times.
- wccrawford 10y ago
  This question came up because of a John Olliver segment about this in which he said that emergency services claims they cannot pinpoint 20% (1 in 5!) people via existing systems. He emphasized that number and tried to make a big deal of it, neglecting to mention that it really only matters in situations where the person can't describe their location anyhow. He gave an example of someone who was in a car in a lake, and gave the 911 operator the names of the streets from the nearby sign and they were unable to find one of the streets on their map. The person died. So people are dying from this already. And I'm sure the families are already making as much noise as they can. In the end, the answer is: Despite our crazy headlong rush into technology, not everything is as advanced as we'd like, and there are various reasons why not. From conspiracies to capitalism to good old fashioned privacy, it just isn't there yet.