Questions for our American friends

[Oswald]

Based on comments made by American friends it seems that there is only basic token fencing, mainly on the Mexican border, as the cost of fencing the entire US border would cost in excess of $100 billion.

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Isn't it the longest undefended border in the World ? There is this however...

Now seeing that, I would without doubt, turn back in abject fear, and forget all about my illicit stash of drugs and head for the safety of home!

[richardoe]

In the USA (and Canada) the police/fire/ambulance emergency number is 911. May I ask why? Here in the UK and the Republic of Ireland its 999 and IMHO its a very simple and easy number to remember and use. So why 911?

And yes I do know why we chose 999.

[Dr Pepper]

I gather it (999) dates from the days of rotary dial phones-and '9' requires the shortest movement of the dial to the stop. Given that some of those making the emergency call would be injured or only partially conscious, it makes a lot of sense to select a combination requiring the least amount of effort......

[winebeavis]

Originally Posted by Dr Pepper

I gather it (999) dates from the days of rotary dial phones-and '9' requires the shortest movement of the dial to the stop. Given that some of those making the emergency call would be injured or only partially conscious, it makes a lot of sense to select a combination requiring the least amount of effort......

I'm showing my age. Or my memory. But in the U.S. "9" was the second longest movement on the dial. 1 was the shortest.





Why 911? I really don't know to be truthful. I understand 999 was used first elsewhere. There are other numbers that end in 11. The N11 codes such as:

211 who to call if branches or electrical wires are down --city services
311 for non emergency municipal departments
511 for non emergency police (at least where I am. It's traffic in some other places)
411 for information
611 for reporting problems with public phones
711 for hearing impaired
811 for buried cables and that ilk.
911 for police and other emergencies

Not sure all places use all of the codes. The municipality prints these on the water/sewage bills where I am (and I had to look it up off the bill for this post). I've seen road signs elsewhere to report traffic problems by calling 511.

[Dr Pepper]

Originally Posted by winebeavis

I'm showing my age. Or my memory. But in the U.S. "9" was the second longest movement on the dial. 1 was the shortest.


.

Depends on which way the dial was numbered winebeavis-in NZ (at least) on the dial phones that were around when I was a kid, 1 was (using the clockface as a reference) approximately 7 o'clock and the dial rotated clockwise-the stop was about 4 or 5 o'clock-hence 9 was about 2 o'clock, and only had to go about 30 degrees movement to reach the stop-this is my understanding of why the UK has 999 to access the emergency services.
[Inexplicably-in NZ the equivalent number is '111'-and has been as long as I can recall]

I do note that during my year in Israel serving with the UN, my second apartment had a dial phone with the numbers going the other way-anti clockwise (which had me doubly confused!).....this may have something to do with hebrew being read right to left? [I guess greenman could clarify this perhaps?]-so clearly there is/was variation in the way the dials were set up in different countries. I assume there might also have been variation in where the numbers started in terms of the mechanism rotation-and hence how far the dial had to rotate for any particular number in the sequence.

[Dr Pepper]

[QUOTE

And yes I do know why we chose 999.[/QUOTE]

...imagine if it was '666'...you never know WHO might answer the call...;-)

[GailFan]

Originally Posted by Dr Pepper

[Inexplicably-in NZ the equivalent number is '111'-and has been as long as I can recall]

It's because when (pulse) dialling first came here, we inexplicably reversed the signals to almost everywhere else in the world. But we used the same emergency-services technology as the UK. So when you dial 111 on a pulse phone in NZ, you are actually dialling 999.

[richardoe]

When they looked at an emergency number in Britain they initially went for 111. But when two wires cross it makes the number 1 so it would cause a lot of false alarms. They couldnt use 222 as that was already in use for an exchange in London so they decided that it would be 999.

[haroldeye]

I was told by an old GEC Telecoms manager that it was 999 because it was a very easy number to remember and it gave the caller time to draw breath. How it worked on Strowger exchanges I know not.