112 or 999

[mawallace]

Would you be able to assist with a debate please?

I have heard that in a road side accident, it is better to dial 112 from a smart phone, as the smart phone broadcasts it's location found via GPS to the call centre automatically, though with 999 on a mobile it does not and is routed to any 999 call centre.

Is there any truth in this

[driverpete]

I've heard this one (and more) many times but so far been unable to verify it from any reliable source. Until someone can point me at proof I'm treating it as an urban myth. As far as I know the two numbers are interchangeable (112 is the Europe-wide emergency number) and that's about as far as it goes.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

We had this recently on another forum, and, sadly, the myth was being perpetuated by people delivering a speed awareness course, so came with some ring of pseudo-authority.

It's nonsense, I'm afraid. 112 is in fact re-directed to the same Operator Assistance Centres (OACs) as 999, and the Enhanced Information Service for Emergency Calls (EISEC) or its Cable and Wireless equivalent (ALSEC) works exactly the same. For mobile phones in this country, GPS from the phone is never used for positioning, just the cell(s) the phone is registered with. The data is provided by the mobile phone company to the EISEC or ALSEC service, from where the emergency service you call (providing they have a suitable interface - Police and Ambulance almost all do, Fire much less so), retrieve the data and their Call taking system then plots it on a map. The information is delivered as an ellipse (sometimes this is a circle) of varying size, but out in rural areas sometimes 5 miles across, with a confidence factor in percent, as to how likely the phone is to be actually within the plotted area.

[morsing]

ANd why exactly haven't they got rid of 999 yet? Another discussion I know, but...

[martine]

We had this recently on another forum, and, sadly, the myth was being perpetuated by people delivering a speed awareness course, so came with some ring of pseudo-authority.

It's nonsense, I'm afraid. 112 is in fact re-directed to the same Operator Assistance Centres (OACs) as 999, and the Enhanced Information Service for Emergency Calls (EISEC) or its Cable and Wireless equivalent (ALSEC) works exactly the same. For mobile phones in this country, GPS from the phone is never used for positioning, just the cell(s) the phone is registered with. The data is provided by the mobile phone company to the EISEC or ALSEC service, from where the emergency service you call (providing they have a suitable interface - Police and Ambulance almost all do, Fire much less so), retrieve the data and their Call taking system then plots it on a map. The information is delivered as an ellipse (sometimes this is a circle) of varying size, but out in rural areas sometimes 5 miles across, with a confidence factor in percent, as to how likely the phone is to be actually within the plotted area.

Excellent answer Nick and definitely qualifies to be on shortlist for this month 'driving geek' awards.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Excellent answer Nick and definitely qualifies to be on shortlist for this month 'driving geek' awards.

Public Safety geek actually

[Standard Dave]

On trunk roads and motorways the best way to give your location to the emergency services is to use the orange SOS phones if your too lazy to walk to one try standing next to a marker post and giving that information.

Even with the eastings and northings or GPS from a phone civilian equipment is highly inaccurate as anyone who had ever tried to rely completely on GPS for hill walking might have found to their cost.

Your sat nav isn't any better it just uses the signal and puts the represetation of your car on the closest road, which might explain some of it's haywire moments when you appear to travel several miles in a minute or it sets off down another road at a junction or when roads cross at a bridge or tunnel.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Since the US military turned off their random error generation some years ago even cheap GPS receivers are usually within about 15 metres of their position. In hill walking, I'm normally happy provided I can see, and if I can, a fix to within say 400 metres should be enough. You could argue that relying on a GPS in mist or fog is foolhardy anyway. I tried carrying my car satnav for a while on some walks in Scotland earlier this year, and was perfectly happy with the accuracy.

[jont]

/thread drift - it used to annoy me intensely on the few occasions when needing recovery from a road rally I could give an OS grid ref to <50m but the recovery people always wanted a road name for their sat navs Not very helpful when you're in the middle of nowhere without any handy road signs.

[JonP]

Would you be able to assist with a debate please?

I have heard that in a road side accident, it is better to dial 112 from a smart phone, as the smart phone broadcasts it's location found via GPS to the call centre automatically, though with 999 on a mobile it does not and is routed to any 999 call centre.

Is there any truth in this

As others have said this is complete tosh.

999 or 112 it doesn't matter, they both get you the same assistance in the same time. There is no difference between the two.

[Horse]

Your sat nav isn't any better it just uses the signal and puts the represetation of your car on the closest road, which might explain some of it's haywire moments when you appear to travel several miles in a minute or it sets off down another road at a junction or when roads cross at a bridge or tunnel.

Ours doesn't. In fact, our previous one (both Garmin) didn't either.

In 'new road' or 'new junction' situations it'll happily show us travel through fields . . .

A friend's Garmin did tell her that her journey was going to be several thousand miles. It was taking her the wrong way around the World . .