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Colorado skiers iPhone 14 Or, your Apple Watch uses new features to automatically call 119, straining emergency resources.
In late December, dispatchers at the Summit County 911 Center needed to handle automated crash notifications from skiers’ Apple devices. None of them were involved in the emergency, but it took a long time to respond, and if the skier didn’t return the call from the dispatcher, his patrol had to move to the location of the automatic call.
“We’re not ignoring calls,” said Trina Dummer, interim director of Summit County’s 911 centers. Said Colorado Sun“These calls require an enormous amount of resources, from dispatchers to deputies to ski patrols.
So far in December, all of the 911 calls have been caused by skiing and snowboarding accidents, not car crashes, and they’re still saving lives. However, the dispatcher handles each 911 in the order of arrival, and automatic calling from the iPhone 14 can delay response to more life-threatening injuries.
“We are completely diverting necessary resources away from the people who need them and towards the functionality of the phone,” Dummer said.
Apple made improvements to crash detection in the iOS 16.2 update. However, it doesn’t seem to be perfect yet.
Crash detection affecting other responders
Emergency dispatchers in Colorado aren’t the only ones getting crash detection calls.of early Decembera dispatcher in Utah was getting 3-5 Apple crash alerts a day.
However, they want skiers to leave this feature on. They confirm that this feature is an important tool and not a nuisance.
“Someone can hit a tree with their skis and become unconscious and invisible to other skiers,” said Susie Butterfield, supervisor at the Summit County Dispatch Center. “I don’t want you to turn this feature off. I just want you to be safe. I don’t mind answering that call because I want to be able to contact you if something really happens.” .”
and December 14thBritish Columbia search and rescue teams have complained about multiple false alarms and asked Apple to change. We also have a limited budget.
Some users have asked Apple to make crash detection an opt-in feature to reduce the chance of false positives.
“I don’t think they described people in British Columbia who love the outdoors, going into the backwoods and literally crashing the backwoods, whether it’s mountain biking or skiing,” Dwight Yokkim, British Senior manager of the Columbia Search and Rescue Association. “Obviously it doesn’t take long to trigger it.”
It uses hardware sensors and algorithms to detect if the user has been in a serious car accident.it has We’re screwed When Successfuland that’s a feature Apple should continue Improve.