"Crash tax" bill sent to man after minor accident - you could get one too

I don't understand why we can't have a three digit non-emergency number. You have (and remember) the three digit codes for information, help on your cell carrier, info for digging...yet we have to google how to get in touch with the police without causing a four-vehicle sound brigade of blues and twos.

This is our government at work.
 
tigger said:
Oh sure, on paper it's really nice. I just meant in practice.
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Yeah, that's what I said. :p

AiR said:
Of course nobody will disable your phone for calling in a crash, even a trivial crash. But if you're drunk and call 112 eleven times to order pizza, I think it's fair that they can disable you.

My point is that there has to be defence mechanisms against abuse of the emergency numbers.
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And the next day? It's okay at night, I guess, at the time when the parnk callings are done, and a fine would also be a good idea, but it can't be forever, if it is, it's dangerous.

argatoga said:
On the flipside if the emergency service is too busy answering prank/idiotic phone calls they will miss the ones which matter.
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They dismiss them with ease, they're experienced. It's stupid, it's dangerous, and it should be punished, but public safety must be before all else, and in this respect, that means every call must be taken, and if it's a prank, kill the call.

And let's keep in mind, we're talking about an unnessesary call, not a prank call. Would you people rather people were so afraid of being charged they didn't call, and a life was lost?

I'll continue saying this, people will be killed. To death.

epp_b said:
What the Norwegian said.
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O'Canada.
 
Of call "erroneous" 911 calls, reporting an accident doesn't seem very high on the list to me. I once called 911 because I witnessed a VERY minor hit & run, just a scrape. A non-emergency number would be a great solution but there is not always an obvious one.
 
I agree, but until we have such a number, it's a very shitty sollution to fine people who tought they were doing the right thing.
 
flydiscovery said:
Which part doesn't rhyme?
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The song :

"There are many times to call 911. When your life is in danger, that's one. But after the danger's done, don't call 911, call 862-8600."

Every line has a rhyme with the word "1". Except the phone number itself. It's weird, because I see the rest of the song and I want to assume the phone number also ends in one.

As it happens, the rhymes go One/One/Done/One/Zero.

Or nought, or nothing, or zip, or hundred or thousand or whatever word you choose. But it doesn't rhyme with "one".

I agree 911 should be discouraged when there is clearly no harm. but the person making the call should pay.
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In the UK, if you have chest pains, you're encouraged to call 999 for an ambulance straight away. For the obvious reason that chest pains could equal heart attack.

Now, sure, lots of these will no doubt be false alarms, and ambulances will be sent out unnecessarily. But if you start charging everyone, then people who genuinely do have heart attacks (through no fault of their own) will be charged for asking for help.

Even if you say "Anyone who doesn't have a heart attack can be charged", you're actively discouraging people with a potentially deadly problem from seeking help.
 
argatoga said:
Don't watch I.T. Crowd :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WWgcUh_Ae
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I was thinking about posting the same thing, then I saw Argatoga's post.

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For everything else on this matter, I'm with Nomix (and his party). If there was an accident, even minor, you should be certain not to be charged for calling. People are usually able to determine when to call emergency service and when not to. Many aren't already calling emergency number even when they should, so charging people for being caring citizens (too caring, in this case) seems a little inappropriate to me.

I agree, on the contrary, with the idea of disabling mobiles who make prank calls, but with two added rules: 1) you should disable it for a limited period and 2) you should disable all and every number, not just the emergency ones. Prankers will be less likely to behave like idiots if they'd find out they aren't allowed to call anyone anymore for a while.

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0118 999 881 999 119 725....3 :D
 
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Pretty sure that unless you have private health insureance over here, you can be charged in excess of $500 AUD for non-life-threatening ambulance callouts, but don't quote me on that. Not sure about police/fire though. But agreed. being charged for a callout where a) you didn't place the call or request the services and b) were not at fault, you should not have to pay. In fact, police frown on being called to the scenes of accidents out here unless a tow of the vehicle(s) involved is required. You normally go and report it within 24 hours in that case, which is a good system IMO. But yeah, simple non-emergency police/services numbers (rather than having to look up local station numbers as you do over here) would be better in some cases.

Off-tangent, but is there any way the guy could claim the fee on his/the other driver's insurance perhaps?
 
flydiscovery said:
This problem is solved completely not by billing but by doing what Nashville did when I was living there. Promote the non-emergency number. Who the hell knows how to call the police for a non-emergency? No one. Well I can, in Nashville. "There are many times to call 911. When your life is in danger, that's one. But after the danger's done, don't call 911, call 862-8600." Bloody annoying song but I moved from there 5 years ago and still remember. They promoted the hell out of it. Probably cost them less to generate the advertising than they were spending on emergency responses to non-emergency situations.
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801-799-3000

No, I didn't look it up.

Around here they had billboards up for a while with the slogan "Only use 911 if it's life-or death" or something like that.
 
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They could make it simpler like 211.
 
Blind_Io said:
801-799-3000

No, I didn't look it up.

Around here they had billboards up for a while with the slogan "Only use 911 if it's life-or death" or something like that.
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A) How come the text I quoted doesn't match up with what you wrote??? That's weird!

B) You kinda sorta have a reputation which leads me to believe you go out of your way to know such numbers. Not that I think it's a bad thing in the slightest, just that most folks don't do that.
 
^ probably because I'm
A) an idiot
and
B) preoccupied

I was attempting to quote the post about knowing the non-emergency numbers, but apparently I fucked it up somehow. I really wish that "reply with quote" would just insert the quote in the quick reply at the bottom instead of opening a box below the post as if we are using a threaded forum design.

And finally: Meh.
 
No, this isn't something that's your fault. What the forum says you typed doesn't match up with what I see you typed. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that you edited your post. I dunno. I screenshotted it and posted a question on the VB4 thread. It's kind of like the forum didn't fully accept your edit? Weird.
 
Or you managed to load the page in that moment between my first post and my edit.
 
Nope. It still comes up wonky if I quote that post right now and I've refreshed multiple times and replied to a couple of different threads.
 
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