Dialling 112 instead of 999

[MASH]

911????

112???

What country are we talking about? This isn't an American forum is it?

Why on earth would anyone dial numbers like that instead of 999? How could that work? You'd get the speaking clock or something - if anything at all.

?????

 

[Lodesman77]

911????

112???

What country are we talking about? This isn't an American forum is it?

Why on earth would anyone dial numbers like that instead of 999? How could that work? You'd get the speaking clock or something - if anything at all.

?????

112 has been the european emergency number since 2001, and works in parallel to the local number. What would you use to call in an emergency in France? Or Germany? or anywhere else in the EU? 999 wouldn't get you very far...

The International Telecommunications Union recommends that member states that are selecting a primary or secondary emergency number choose either 911, 112 or both.

.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

The one problem with 112 as an emergency number is that PABX's have 9 as the outside line facility so you can just keep hitting 9's to get the emergency service. I can't remember what number got an outside line on the continent.

 

[st599]

911????

112???

What country are we talking about? This isn't an American forum is it?

Why on earth would anyone dial numbers like that instead of 999? How could that work? You'd get the speaking clock or something - if anything at all.

?????

112 has been the official emergency number in all EU member states for more than a decade.

 

[davidwf]

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=2842[/url]

My car already does this although it is relayed via manufacturers control room, its triggered if the airbags go off. Car sends location details as well from Sat Nav, operator can talk to you to determine level of help needed.

Also got a car equivalent of a DSC button in case I have a small crash and need help.

 

[prv]

Seems I wasn t the first to misdial voicemail

Another problem with the choice of 112 is that it can be "dialled" by a wiring fault.

Though most phones now use tones to signal numbers, the old signalling technique used by rotary dials is still supported. Each click as the dial went round was the two wires of the circuit being disconnected and reconnected - it's called "loop disconnect dialling". With practice, you can do it by rattling the "hook" up and down, or tapping bare wires together (I can't, but I've known people who could). The same effect happens randomly if you're messing about with extension wiring in your house while it's live.

Part of the reason 999 was chosen (instead of, say, 111) was that it was highly unlikely that random rattling in the wiring would manage to produce nine pulses in quick succession, then a gap, then nine more, etc. But 1 - 1 - 2 isn't that far-fetched, and I know somebody who was working on an extension socket in his kitchen when he heard someone calling "hello? hello?" from the phone that was lying off the hook on the worktop nearby. Picked it up to talk to them and found it was the "999" emergency centre. When he said he'd been working on the wiring they knew about the issue, and advised him to disconnect at the BT faceplate in future.

Why on earth would anyone dial numbers like that instead of 999? How could that work? You'd get the speaking clock or something - if anything at all.

Well, I won't advise trying it, but if you did you'd get the same people as if you'd dialled 999. Why is it such a surprise that two numbers should point to the same place? "How could that work?" indeed - of course it can work any way BT wants to program it.

112 might not have been the ideal choice of number, but having a single number that works anywhere - alongside each country's traditional number, there's no plans to get rid of them - is a very sensible idea. You or I would dial 999 if we saw a car crash in Basingstoke, but what if a visiting German was the only person nearby? If I saw someone have a heart attack outside the marina in Cherbourg, I have no idea what the old French emergency number is, but I know 112 would work.

Pete

 

[MASH]

I am puzzled why anyone would suggest dialling a european number that is unknown in UK afaik is actually going to work in Basingstoke?

The UK emergency number is 999 and always has been so discussion of Eu numbers seems a bit unnecessary.

If you go to europe I suppose you might be interested enough to find out the local emergency number, but then again 99.9% probably wouldn't bother.

 

[prv]

I am puzzled why anyone would suggest dialling a european number that is unknown in UK afaik is actually going to work in Basingstoke?

Because they're right, it will. Fortunately for the people in the hypothetical car crash that my hypothetical German observed.

If you go to europe I suppose you might be interested enough to find out the local emergency number, but then again 99.9% probably wouldn't bother.

My point was exactly that I don't know what the local emergency number is in France, or any other European country for that matter. Fortunately, I don't need to, because the Europe-wide one works too, just like it does here.

You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

Pete

 

[tigr]

112

I was on an RYA first aid course a couple of weeks ago, the trainer said to dial 112 as it would give the location of the phone, mobile or land line. They said 999 will ask for a post code before they would send anybody - which is very hard if you are in a field or on a beach.
A case was bought up about somebody on a day trip to Brighton and they found somebody in trouble. Nobody on the seafront knew the postcode, nor did the shops, it was only it in a Fish and Chip shop they found the answer, the person ther had just ordered something online and had just found the post code.
It was re-inforced throughout the course to use 112 rather than 999. Some on the course said a mobile is easily tracked to a few metres, don't know how acurate this is, sure somebody will follow on with more on that.

 

[Sniper]

I was on an RYA first aid course a couple of weeks ago, the trainer said to dial 112 as it would give the location of the phone, mobile or land line. They said 999 will ask for a post code before they would send anybody - which is very hard if you are in a field or on a beach.
A case was bought up about somebody on a day trip to Brighton and they found somebody in trouble. Nobody on the seafront knew the postcode, nor did the shops, it was only it in a Fish and Chip shop they found the answer, the person ther had just ordered something online and had just found the post code.
It was re-inforced throughout the course to use 112 rather than 999. Some on the course said a mobile is easily tracked to a few metres, don't know how acurate this is, sure somebody will follow on with more on that.

See my post #20 above. 999 WILL generate an address for a landline. Mobiles are very hard to pinpoint. I am not aware of any advantage in the use of 112 over 999, otherwise it would be widely publicised. If you call an ambulance from a mobile, the most useful information you can provide is an exact location (obviously). The mobile signal will get us to approximately the right area, but not to within a few metres. I am sure the same will apply for Dibble and Trumpton as well, since we all use approximately the same sort of despatch systems.

 

[prv]

I was on an RYA first aid course a couple of weeks ago, the trainer said to dial 112 as it would give the location of the phone, mobile or land line. They said 999 will ask for a post code before they would send anybody - which is very hard if you are in a field or on a beach.

Sounds highly unlikely, as they're just two different numbers for the same call centre. Somebody has got confused somewhere along a chain of Chinese whispers.

Pete

 

[dutyhog]

Mobile phone masts around here are 15-20 miles or more apart. You are lucky to get picked up by even one. So I don't see how your location can be determined to a few metres. It must be similar at sea.

The postcode areas are about the same size, too.

The only time I tried emergency here with a mobile was during a long frozen winter power cut, when a neighbour got hypothermic. The mast was down - it's battery only lasts half an hour. So it's more reliable to go to a land line (her phone needs mains power, so was dead, and I had to go back home to phone with my old-fashioned one).

 

[haydude]

Can anyone confirm that dialling 112 from a mobile gives the emergency services your location?

112 is the European standard number for emergency services. In fact it works from landlines also in the UK.

It was designed so that people travelling around Europe need only to remember one number.
Unfortunately in the UK, due to the country xenophobia this information is not divulged, but only to its citizens' disadvantage, because they will not know what number to call when abroad. A European visiting the UK will just know to dial 112 also from landlines.

If dialled from a mobile, the approximate location is calculated from the cells. This applies to 112 and any oher number.




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[tim_ber]

I was told at the first aid course that by dialling 112 in whatever country you are (at least in Europe), the service should be able to put you in touch with a correspondent speaking your own language.

No idea if it is wishful thinking or if it has been implemented in reality though

?

I was told the same thing. E.g. If in France 112 would get me to someone that spoke english.

Told via RYA First Aid Course for commercial endorsement etc.

 

[haydude]

I am puzzled why anyone would suggest dialling a european number that is unknown in UK afaik is actually going to work in Basingstoke?

The UK emergency number is 999 and always has been so discussion of Eu numbers seems a bit unnecessary.

If you go to europe I suppose you might be interested enough to find out the local emergency number, but then again 99.9% probably wouldn't bother.

112 is THE emergency number in the UK too, and 999 remains for legacy compatibility. Only the spineless at the government failed to let people know.


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[tigr]

According to people on the first aid course I was on there has been a recent blitz of advertising to use 112 but I have not seen anything!
I was told to re-read post #20, does mean the RYA are wrong in saying use 112 on their course, is this a flaw in the teaching, vital seconds count and all that so which one is the best?
Is this RYA teaching or the instructors interpretation.

 

[haydude]

According to people on the first aid course I was on there has been a recent blitz of advertising to use 112 but I have not seen anything!
I was told to re-read post #20, does mean the RYA are wrong in saying use 112 on their course, is this a flaw in the teaching, vital seconds count and all that so which one is the best?
Is this RYA teaching or the instructors interpretation.

The RYA are correct because as already explained, 112 is THE emergency number anywhere in Europe, including the UK, not 999. Since sailors are likely to sail to different countries they should know that!


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[oldharry]

When we get emergency calls from mobiles, we get a prealert which starts us running towards a rough geographic location while an exact location is determined from the caller. This is useful for a longer distance run, but less useful if the caller is only a few streets away; we can end up going in completely the wrong direction! I don't think it is possible for a precise location to b e generated from the phone signal alone., otherwise we wouldn't spend so much time driving around in circles trying to find incidents.

If you have Google maps on your phone, it will give a rough indication of where you are - or sat least mine does. Presumably thi is how they can locate the approxinmate position of an emergency call.

It is accurate to a locality, and although sometimes it can find you to within 50 metres it is certainly not reliable enough to act as an emergency marker, and it can be up to half a mile adrift. Presumably they use the same technology when you place an emergency call - but it could be a long wait if that's all the info they have to go by!

 

[alahol2]

Out of interest, does anyone know if the emergency services can handle positions given in Ordnance Survey grid or Lat/Long? Certainly, when walking in the countryside, for example, I wouldn't have the first idea of postcode.

 

[single]

Most of its here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/999_(emergency_telephone_number)
My understanding has always been 999 is like a mayday and 112 is more like a panpan.