RollerCoasters Causing 911 Chaos
After 128 silent alarm calls and fifteen 911, hang-up calls were made to Warren County Emergency Services at a 3-day old Kings Island theme park, the agency implemented new technology to send a text message to the caller to alert them that a 911 call had been made to the police and asked them whether or not police presence was needed (WLWT Digital Staff, 2022). This negated the need for a phone call from a number most Kings Island visitors would most likely not have answered as they would not have recognized the non-emergency number the agency was calling from. Most of the visitors would have been unaware that their phones had called Warren County police while they were riding a high-speed ride.
How many people are putting their phones on airplane mode or “do not disturb” when they are riding a ride? According to some sources, the combination of speeds, rapid changes in direction, and aggressive stops can send signals to smart devices (Stanford, 2021). The intense speeds or change thereof triggers some applications such as Life360 or phone programming (such as Apple) to contact law enforcement as they believe the phone owner has been injured (WLWT Digital Staff, 2022).
A 911 dispatch center near Dollywood in Tennessee received close to 10,000 calls in 2021 from cell phones on amusement parks and rides (WLWT Digital Staff, 2022). In Florida, riders on Rock n Roller Coaster and Big Thunder Mountain cause several false 911 calls (WLWT Digital Staff, 2022).
References:
Stanford, Q. (2021, December 4). Why People Keep Calling 911 in Disney World. The Disney Food Blog. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/12/10/why-people-keep-calling-911-in-disney-world/#:%7E:text=Why%20are%20people%20calling%20911%20in%20Disney%20World%3F,aggressive%20stops%20can%20send%20signals%20to%20smart%20devices.
WLWT Digital Staff. (2022, April 22). Warren County launches new technology after receiving influx of accidental 911 calls from Kings Island. Www.Wlwt.Com. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from https://www.wlwt.com/article/911-calls-kings-island-rollercoasters-warren-county-emergency/39794842
