Why was 911 decided to be the shorthand dial for emergency numbers? Why not other combinations that are easier to remember (e.g. 111, 123, etc.)?
In: Other
The idea was to make it fast and not error prone. Dial phones take 9 times as long to dial a 9 than a 1. The 9 is hard to dial accidentally, and then the 11 takes minimum time, since it’s an emergency.
Before tone systems, a dial phone simply put voltage pulses on the line, 111 on a dial phone can be mimicked by stray single pulses. Some choices may have been arbitrary but part of it was to be easy to dial and not to create spurious calls on an early network with electrical noise.
Britain uses 999 and the EU 112 (also works in Britain)
It was short, which makes it easy to remember. It also was never designated as an office code, area code or service code so it could be easily fit into the telephone numbering plan.
[deleted]
Back in the day, we had rotary phones. Rather than pushing a button for each digit, you had to pull back the dial a certain amount based on what number you were dialing. (Hence where the term “dial” comes from.) On a rotary phone, 911 was a number that was both easy to dial, but also pretty much impossible to dial on accident.
This is only the case in America; in other countries there is another code (I believe in the UK it’s 999).
911 was chosen in America because the government, when establishing it in the 60s, wanted there to be a short, easy-to-remember combination of numbers that could be thought of under stress; 911 had no prior associations like an area code to anywhere in the country, and so it was chosen.
From [here:](https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/here-s-why-911-became-the-number-for-emergencies/ar-AAG1w66)
>“The code 911 was chosen because it best fit the needs of all parties involved,” according to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). “First, and most important, it met public requirements because it is brief, easily remembered, and can be dialed quickly. Second, because it is a unique number, never having been authorized as an office code, area code or service code, it best met the long range numbering plans and switching configurations of the telephone industry.”
Some countries use other numbers like 999 there isn’t a global pattern for emergency numbers but you needed something quick to dial and fairly easy to remember and wasn’t already used as an area code.
The first city in North America to use a central emergency number was the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1959, which instituted the change at the urging of Stephen Juba, mayor of Winnipeg at the time. Winnipeg initially used 999 as the emergency number, but switched numbers when 9-1-1 was proposed by the United States
Imagine being in an emergency and having to watch the rotary phone slowly spin back after clocking in the 9.
Goal’s easy to remember, hard to dial accidentally.
There is also a technical element that certain patterns of pulses can be generated by the wires flexing in the wind i think 222 was rejected in the UK for this reason but would have to look up which
Latest Answers