Current Events > why doesn't America also use '999' as their emergency number?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I mean, it's a lot easier to dial in the event of an emergency. Reaching over to the one probably results in mistakes in the heat of the moment.

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Same reason we use feet instead of meters

Because fuck you, we're MURICA

Apparently cause it was faster to dial it those told timey phones and then afterwards to keep people from accidentally dialing it.

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LightHawKnight posted...

Apparently cause it was faster to dial it those told timey phones and then afterwards to keep people from accidentally dialing it.

OHHHHhh....I forgot about that. That's right. That used to be the standard with the rotary phones.

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cmiller4642 posted...

Same reason we use feet instead of meters

Because fuck you, we're MURICA

Shit man. I didn't expect such good answer on the second post.

Listen to this guy TC.

Surely multiple numbers work. You dont need just 1 emergency number

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Yeah actually if you look at our area codes, big cities like NYC and LA have area codes that start with 2. That comes from rotary dial phones as well.

Manhattan is 212 for this very reason, because it's easy to dial on a rotary phone.

It's easier to dial and easier to misdial, as well as above reasons.

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Doesn't it work anyway

in the UK 911 and 112 work incase a tourist sets their hotel on fire or something

Actually happened to a friend or mine who was nearly raped. In their panic they called 911

So it makes sense
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Because if they turn their phone upside down then they'll accidentally call the devil.

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UnfairRepresent posted...

Doesn't it work anyway

in the UK 911 and 112 work incase a tourist sets their hotel on fire or something

Actually happened to a friend or mine who was nearly raped. In their panic they called 911

So it makes sense

i dont think calling 911 in the UK works

maybe some hotels theyll have it redirected? but if you did it on a normal phone line, iirc it wouldnt go to emergency services

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Parappa09 posted...

i dont think calling 911 in the UK works

maybe some hotels theyll have it redirected? but if you did it on a normal phone line, iirc it wouldnt go to emergency services

I know for a fact it works because my friend did it
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UnfairRepresent posted...

I know for a fact it works because my friend did it

where did he do it? at a hotel?

now im interested if it works for landlines and mobile phones. i remember trying when i was a kid and it didnt work. maybe theyve changed it since then

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definitely so it isn't easy to misdial, but I suppose the whole thing with rotary phones makes perfect sense to me

Didn't 911 come first?

I take it the UK system doesn't work very well....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ

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