We all know that the emergency contact number in the United States is 911. That’s great information for when/if I ever get over there and when/if I ever have an emergency while there, but I was thinking about the actual number itself.
Nine. One. One.
Other than the zero, you couldn’t get two numbers further apart from each other on a telephone key pad.
So you don’t have to look at your phone to see what I mean, here’s one I prepared earlier.
I want to know who the genius was who decided that in an emergency, the two (different) numbers you need to dial are so far apart? It is an emergency for petes sake. You want to be able to dial the emergency number as soon as humanly possible. You don’t want to have to take a cross screen trip from one side of the number keys to the other. This is valuable time and time that could mean the difference between living and dying!
Sure it’s only a fraction of a second but I would like to have that fraction of a second up my sleeve in case I need to use it later.
I might have a bullet about to hit me and that extra fraction of second I used dialling 911 has left me with no time to dodge. Boom! I’m dead. Damn you 911. If only you were a little closer together on the keyboard, I could have that time back again. Now it’s too late. Dead or injured cursing the guy who invented the 911 sequence as my world turns into eternal blackness.
In Australia our emergency contact number is 000.
Yep, due to Aussie ingenuity we have the 3 essential numbers that we need, all in the one spot for rapid dialling. No cross number key pad detour required.
This is why the murder rates in Australia are so much lower. We have that extra time to call emergency services and dodge bullets.
000 – Carry on. Great work so far.
911 – You suck! Take a long hard look at yourself and pick up your game!
