911

4

4thHorseman

New member
Does anyone know where they got the emergency numbers to dial "911". What is the reasoning for those specific numbers?
 
K

Kharn

New member
The numbers are seperated on the phone pad, so its unlikely that you (or a toddler) would dial it accidentily (for example, if you are calling 555-9146 and you hit 555-9116, you will get 911), and its easy to remember. The British use 999, but I bet they get a bunch of calls from toddlers playing with the phone.

Kharn
 
C

C.R.Sam

New member
I thought they put it on the phone cause twas already painted on the cruisers. Just to keep things simple.

Sam
 
J

jimpeel

New member
When I was a kid living in beautiful downtown Burbank, CA the emergency number for the PD was 116. In about 1960, or so, they changed it so you had to dial the full number of the PD which was not a memorable number as I recall.
 
J

Jorah Lavin

New member
Don't you just love a good search engine?

Google came up with some good hits.


http://www.911dispatch.com/911_file/911history.html

Why the dialing code 9-1-1? This is a real hard question to answer and my first response is: Why not?

Everyone has his or her own access code and I have heard most of them. But the truth is that AT&T and USITA had to come up with one for the telephone system--for the total system.

I was an engineer for AECO Gen Tel Labs when I became part of this task force. And believe me, this was no snap; it took much time to resolve. No one wanted to give in, but as time went on, we all came to the same understanding. The access code had to be three digits. The first digit had to be an N digit, meaning it had to be one of the digits 2 through 9. The digit 1 or 0 could not be used. The second and third digits had to be 1.

So the real problem was what was the first digit going to be and the task force set out to resolve this problem.

It came down to the fact that the digit 9 was the easiest to clear for access, because in many systems it was already clear; in others, equipment changes were small. With this, 9-1-1 was selected and work started to make this an access code back as far as the late '50s.

There was one other factor that helped resolve this, and it was the location of this digit on the dial or keypad.

If one had to dial 9-1-1 in the dark, all one had to do was place the finger in the dial, slide the finger from the one position all the way around to the zero position, back up one step and this would be the ninth position or digit 9.

Then the call originator would again place the finger into the lst position; this would he the digit one--and dial it two times. The outcome would he 9-1-1.

With the keypad, the call originator would locate the lower righthand key position (the # or pound key) and move straight up to the next position, which is the digit 9. Then move the finger so the upper-most left hand side, which is the digit one. With this method, one could easily dial 9-1-1 in the dark.
Click to expand...


http://www.google.com/search?q=history+911+emergency+calling
 
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