iPhone 14 Crash Detection Alerts Police Minutes After Early Morning Tasmania Accident

[MacRumors]

The Crash Detection feature in the iPhone 14 was able to alert police immediately after an early morning accident occurred in Tasmania, getting help for victims within minutes.

According to Australia's ABC News, a four-wheel drive truck towing a horse float collided with a tree stump in Tasmania at 1:45 a.m. on Monday. Crash Detection alerted nearby police, who were able to get to the scene within eight minutes, even though the passengers were unconscious.

Five people ranging in age from 14 to 20 were taken to the hospital, and one person with serious injuries was transported to Melbourne by air ambulance. In accidents with life-threatening injuries, immediate help can make a major difference. "In a case where people had lost consciousness in a crash like this, it is certainly something that alerts police quickly," said Tasmania Police Inspector Ruth Orr. Officers had also already been in the area, which helped with the response time.

Apple's iPhone 14 models have only been out for four months, but the Crash Detection feature has already helped multiple accident victims, as has the Emergency SOS via Satellite function that can contact police in emergency situations where WiFi and cellular service are unavailable.

Unfortunately, Crash Detection can also trigger false positives, which can be frustrating for emergency responders around amusement parks and ski resorts. In November, Summit County dispatchers in Utah said they had seen a major uptick in accidental 911 calls, and just this week, a report from The Japan News said that the Kita-Alps Nagano Fire Department had received a total of 134 false calls primarily triggered by Crash Detection, with those calls occurring between December 16 and January 23.

Japanese firefighters do not recommend turning off Crash Detection, despite the inconvenience. "It's an effective function in the event of a really serious accident, so we can't ask users to turn it off," they said.

Apple has already adjusted Crash Detection, optimizing it with the iOS 16.1.2 update to cut down on false positives, but reports in December suggested that 911 dispatchers were still getting a number of accidental calls. Utah Summit County Sheriff Jamie FitzSimons said in December that Apple is aware of the problem, and that more refinement is needed. "We are communicating with Apple to get them to pay more attention to this, but it feels like we are trying to turn a battleship in a bathtub," said FitzSimons.

Article Link: iPhone 14 Crash Detection Alerts Police Minutes After Early Morning Tasmania Accident

 

[Lek]

Glad to see it helped.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Incredible story. The false positives come with the territory, and they will need to further refine to address these — but the fact that it has seemingly saved lives makes the exercise well worth it.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I was in a serious accident back in November. It called 911 on my co-workers iPhone 14 Plus immediately.

 

[explosive0]

I don't know why MR publishers every story about crash detection. This isn't special to iPhones. Haven't the Pixel phones had crash detection since 2019?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Some good news. But I feel like this Crash Detection feature is a hit or a miss. Apple just needs to tweak it. 🛠️

 

[campingsk8er]

One life saved is worth the 100 false positives.

 

[jarman92]

I mean, I should hope so. If it’s going off when people are skiing it better go off when there’s an actual accident.

 

[jarman92]

One life saved is worth the 100 false positives.

Is it? I think there’s a lot of emergency dispatchers/first responders who would disagree.

 

[Westside guy]

One life saved is worth the 100 false positives.

You are assuming that someone lived specifically due to Apple's crash detection who otherwise would have died. The burden of proof in that regard is on you.

 

[citysnaps]

I don't know why MR publishers every story about crash detection. This isn't special to iPhones. Haven't the Pixel phones had crash detection since 2019?

I find it interesting and want to know about the accidents. and number of people involved. No doubt others do as well.

 

[citysnaps]

Is it? I think there’s a lot of emergency dispatchers/first responders who would disagree.

"Japanese firefighters do not recommend turning off Crash Detection, despite the inconvenience. "It's an effective function in the event of a really serious accident, so we can't ask users to turn it off," they said."

Apparently Japanese firefighters do not agree with your view.

 

[BGPL]

One story where it worked. 10,000 where it didn't.

 

[entropys]

All four horses dead.

 

[britboyj]

According to Australia's ABC News, a four-wheel drive truck towing a horse float collided with a tree stump in Tasmania at 1:45 a.m. on Monday.

I have... a lot of questions.

 

[japanime]

I was initially baffled by the phrase "horse float." I thought it meant the truck was pulling a parade-type float with horses on top of it. 😅

But I then realized how strange that would be, given the time of the accident (1:45 a.m.). So, I Googled the phrase and learned that it's Australian English for what is called a "horse trailer" in American English.

It's absolutely no big deal, of course. It just seemed odd to me, given that MacRumors usually uses American English. Anyway, I learned a new phrase today.

 

[goobot]

"Japanese firefighters do not recommend turning off Crash Detection, despite the inconvenience. "It's an effective function in the event of a really serious accident, so we can't ask users to turn it off," they said."

Apparently Japanese firefighters do not agree with your view.

It’s a pretty double edge sword. Obviously this is a great feature but it needs to be improved because if call centers get overwhelmed it will start to actually impact the amount of time for a response. As more people get newer phones this issue will only get exacerbated

 

[macfacts]

One life saved is worth the 100 false positives.

You can't argue which lives are more important. Those 100 false positive calls would have prevented real 911 calls.

 

[citysnaps]

It’s a pretty double edge sword. Obviously this is a great feature but it needs to be improved because if call centers get overwhelmed it will start to actually impact the amount of time for a response. As more people get newer phones this issue will only get exacerbated

For sure on the app being improved. Which Apple is doing as more data comes into Apple from crash incidents and false alarms.

Like all things in life involving humans, there will never be 100% perfection 100% of the time.

Still, Japanese first responders recommend crash detection staying always on.

 

[citysnaps]

One life saved is worth the 100 false positives.

Agree. And apparently so do Japanese firefighters, as mentioned in the story where they recommend crash detection always stay on.

 

[svish]

Crash detection is really a useful feature. But Apple should find a way to reduce the false positives the iPhone can trigger.

 

[quarkysg]

Those 100 false positive calls would have prevented real 911 calls.

Quite unlikely there's only one line receiving emergency calls. Also quite unlikely the 100 false positives are happening at the same time clogging up the emergency call lines.

 

[Alex Cai]

I sus that many of the false calls are activated by the people who never update(such as my mom who sticks with IOS14.0 with her iPhone 12)
thus they don’t get the better optimized crash detection

 

[_Spinn_]

Glad to hear a good news story about crash detection for a change instead of all the news about false positives.

 

[mw360]

Quite unlikely there's only one line receiving emergency calls. Also quite unlikely the 100 false positives are happening at the same time clogging up the emergency call lines.

False positive waste more than a phone line. If nobody responds, emergency services attend the location. It doesn’t matter when those 100 false positive occur. Every one carries a risk of killing multiple people through misdirected resources.

Agree. And apparently so do Japanese firefighters, as mentioned in the story where they recommend crash detection always stay on.

The article says that, but the direct quote doesn’t. They say they ‘can’t ask users to turn it off’ which is significantly different.