said by averagedude:I can see the safety aspect. A security guard has to be awake and looking at closed circuit black and white monitors to notice if anything has gone wrong.
With everyone having a cell, everyone is able to immediately call for help. I have heard of reports of 911 operators getting swamped by calls, but I think this is a good thing. I would think that the "swamping" would tell indirectly how big of a problem there is and how large the problem is impacting people.
I have personally seen accidents on the freeway happen right in front of me. Within seconds I was able to call 911 and reports the crash. All I can imagine is that by calling immediately and not waiting for an Officer to figure out why traffic is backing up and then working their way to the crash site to finally call for an ambulance..... IMO cell coverage is saving lives - even if the crash gets reports 9 ga-zillion times over by every rubber neck'er.
Technology allows for cell phone location, which can only help in reporting accidents/crashes/ceilings falling down.
I was just thinking of what happened in Britain in the tunnels. If I remember right, people were able to use their cells to call for help, use the screen as an emergency flash light, and to video record what happened down there.
I think that Homeland Security should embrace cell phones as part of that layered last defence, and not be in such a hurry to shut off cell sites where they think something might possibly could happen. I want to be able to call for help, and receive it - that is my right to security! Whether I am having a heart attack, getting mugged, car crash, or even as chicken little as the sky falls.
But have many people call form the same place can over load the cell tower.
