911

[PhilDernerJr]

Have you ever called 911? How often would you say you have?

I've called 911 dozens of times. I had one year where I was calling them almost every month because I happened to keep walking up to car accidents or other unfortunate things.

[Tom_Turner]

I can't really remember -- so many employees "falling out" over the years in various offices.

Of course these days, many prefer not to be saddled with an ambulance bill, so that has to be taken into account, but when you can't get a good read on the person's immediate health, no point in taking chances.

My most embarrassing 911 call came when the car I was driving at the time started smoking badly and I was convinced the car was on fire. Well, honestly, it very nearly was. But by the time the Fire Truck came, it was clear the worst was over. Felt bad for wasting their time. The guys were very cool about it though.

A ton of very bad car accidents I witnessed happening, but within seconds I saw others on their cell phones, so never had to place those calls really.

[Mellyrose]

I call probably twice a year...sometimes more. I think last month I called 311/911 like 5 times! Weird **** just kept happening. The night after July 4th I was laying in bed and I heard this BOOM, like one single firework went off, but it totally wasn't anything amateur, and it scared the crap out of me. Thinking I was imagining things, I tried to go back to bed. 2 minutes later, again! SO LOUD. I called 311 to see if anything had been reported or planned in my area for that night, and after 2 more booms, the operator figured out that there was a Jeep on fire a couple blocks away, I was hearing it exploding. Fun stuff!

The other times were uneventful, good samaritan type stuff.

[moose135]

Probably called half a dozen times over the years - two or three accidents in front of the house (I'm on a busy main road) including one which killed the two occupants of the car. A couple for accidents I passed on the highway, one time for a tractor-trailer that ended up on the Northern State Parkway.

And there was that one time when I saw someone taking pictures of planes near the airport... :D

[Matt Molnar]

I've called three times:

Twice were when I worked at Key Food, once for a dumpster on fire and another time for a car on fire.

The other time was about a year ago, when a homeless guy with three shopping carts full of bottles was rolling his crap down the road behind my house, which is a busy exit ramp for the Grand Central Pkwy...definitely could have caused an accident.

[stuart schechter]

Called once because my father dislocated his shoulder by slipping and falling down the stairs and getting his arm stuck in the banister.

Been called out to too many 911 calls for the Ambulance Corp.

[cancidas]

i think i've only called them once, for a house fire by brooklyn college when i was in high school. don't know how many i've answered in my life though...

[flyboy 28]

Just once. For a car accident that happened literally right outside my house.

[emshighway]

Of course these days, many prefer not to be saddled with an ambulance bill, so that has to be taken into account

Those who work or have worked EMS will tell you different. I've been told many times they cal 911 because they could afford a cab.

Worked the other side of the phone in 84-85. There were many funny calls. My first "falling out" call took me a few minutes to figure out the person didn't go out a window.

I have Onstar and hit the emergency button on an overturn which happen in front of me on the GCP. Didn't have to wait for them to get on the line and the had my location by GPS.

I like 311 because sometimes you need help but not emergent help. I have used it a few times for broken street lights and they were actually fixed before the 10 days given.

[hiss srq]

In Florida I called a few times for several accidents. A gul fell off the tug and it ran him over in SRQ once. I called it because a jeep rolled into the trees on I4 on my way up to NY last year. I called for a few car accidents and in Brooklyn this spring I called 911 once because this guy was beating the heck out of this girl and I would normally probably step up but he had a good 100 pounds on me and looked like a hoodlum so I called the cops gave em the corner and got out of there.

[nwafan20]

Well, in front of my house there is a fairly sharp curve, and people are idiots and don't slow down. We get about 2 crashes a year.

Added with random stuff that I have had to call 911 for, I would say, probably 3 times a year or so...

The worst crash in front of my house happened when a guy who was on new medication hit this curve at about 60 (Its a 45 road) and lost control, fishtailed, flew into a ditch and nailed a telephone line, the line was still live when he hit it, and he ruptured his gas tank and it was spilling out. I was the first on the scene, called 911, went to see if he was OK, he wasn't. First to arrive were 4 police cars, then an ambulance, then a squad car (That is our SUV ambulance basically, can't transport, but has equipment), and finally 3 firetrucks.... all in front of my house! They made us evacuate too.....

[NIKV69]

I've called 911 dozens of times. I had one year where I was calling them almost every month because I happened to keep walking up to car accidents or other unfortunate things.

Phil called 911 on me once! I was the guy videotaping in my vehicle on the bridge.

I have only called 911 once in lately. Last Jan I was on I40 just west of Amarillo and a cow got past the cattleguard and was headed right toward the road. Not a good situation. Semi going 90 is not going to get on his brakes and risk a jackknife. Hope they got there fast enough!

[Derf]

.....and there was that one time when I saw someone taking pictures of planes near the airport... :D

Goddamit!!! I can not belive that was you! URRRRGGGHHHHH!

[nikon50bigma]

And there was that one time when I saw someone taking pictures of planes near the airport... :D

Don't ya hate it when that happens.... :lol:

[RDU-JFK]

I didn't call 911 myself but I did call 311 three times in the past 6 months.

1. I saw 2 raccoons in my backyard making strange noises, but then they ran away and the guy said they still needed to be there for them to send someone
2. A house having construction work done had all this watered down concrete going down the street in front of our house and into the sewer. I called and reported the name of the construction guy.
3. In South Street Seaport I wanted to buy a soda but a guy on a pushcart was charging 1.50 for a can!!! So there was a woman on line to buy a can from this jerk, and I told her and the next three customers that the woman across the street was selling them for a dollar. The guy started cursing me out, so I called 311, reported his vendor ID, and filed an anonymous police report. I then returned to my perch to tell people about the overpriced soda until he lowered the prices to a dollar.

My friend and I called 911 in Durham, NC when we saw a car engulfed in flames off I-40 (we were like the 10th people to call)