Another cell phone accident to a parked vehicle

[Monica Lewinsky]

I DON'T FRICKING BELIEVE IT that this happening to me AGAIN!!!
Today, is my day to bitch and moan.

Client appointment is set for 8:00 a.m., got there 5 minutes late. Parked my truck, legally, on a residential street. Ninth Street in Hinsdale, IL - home of rich snobs.

Proceed with the service call. About 10:00 a.m. I realize I need a spare network card and a spare router to complete the service call. I am VERY disappointed with me being unobservant. I put my key in the drivers door and unlocked the vehicle. I then TRIED to open the drivers door - I can't. I said to myself "you dumb ass, it's still locked". Wait a minute the button is "up". Grab the handle and tried again - WTF!

HOLY CRAP!!!

Look at this Mikey!!!, the entire drivers side front panel above the tire and below the tire is ALL BASHED IN with red paint all over it. Worse, there is a big gouge in my tire smeared with red paint on it. Now I can see why the drivers door will not open.

Calling 9-1-1 from a cell phone broke down today for me.

10:01 am call to the Hinsdale Police dept. Cell phone operator connects me to a recorded message number to the Hinsdale FIRE Dept. No option in the menu system to get a live human being. Hang-up.

10:02 am called 9-1-1. "I need the Hinsdale Police Dept". OK sir, right away. I get ANOTHER recording to the Western Springs, IL Fire dept. Same dead end but to the town to the EAST of where I am at. WTF?

10:03 am called 9-1-1, again, get connected to the damn prerecorded FIRE Dept number AGAIN!

Calm down, THINK!

Cell phone rings. Who's this? - caller ID shows "UNKNOWN". "Western Springs PD, what is your emergency or nature of your problem?"

"My fricking problem is I am NOT EVEN IN YOUR TOWN, I want the town WEST of you - Hinsdale, IL - JESUS CHRIST ! - All this money spent on 9-1-1 and it is like having the 3 Stooges running around hearing "Dr. Howard, Dr. Vine, Dr. Howard report to the wrong patient room.

Cop shows up just under 2 minutes - real super duper nice guy.

Then it dawns on me at this point - no witness[es] - I am screwed. Just bend over and kiss that baby good bye it is ALL out of your pocket.

Thank God for Miracles.

As I wrapped up at the client across the street, cop shows up, "I found who hit you". Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Resident, one house, WEST of my vehicle came back home. She left her RED Honda Odyssey parked in the driveway one hour later. Cop looks over the vehicle and finds the passenger side FRONT quarter panel all bashed in with dark Grey paint scrapped on it - which JUST HAPPENS to match the color of my truck.

He confronts her - "This appears to be fresh".

Response from the BITCH:

"Oh, I did hit that truck when I was answering a call on my cell phone. I was late for an appointment and did not have the time to deal with it."

Dear Bitch:

The cops won't do anything, however, we have a COMMON link the SAME insurance company.

I am going to cause a great stink because YOU:

1. LEFT the scene of an accident
2. FAILED to report an accident
3. FAILED to report personal property damage greater $500.

ANY other suggestions, Gentlemen?

Signed,
One VERY pissed off person.

The brakes on my truck are now acting up. If I come to a controlled stop, i.e. stop sign or red light, no problem. If I hit the brake for an unplanned stop, the stearing wheel and brake pedal shudders MASSIVELY for 3-5 seconds.

[Etienne]

Once you get the insurance check, sue her for personnal damage, anguish, loss of enjoyment, degradation of quality of life and, I don't know, PTSD or something.

She deserves it.

[Stealth Hunter]

Sue her ass off... and sue her for her car... then beat the **** out of it and blow it up with kerosene.

[XabbaRus]

If it has hurt your brakes, must have been quite a hit.

[rifleman13]

I read a bumper sticker once...

I could hit my brakes, and sue you!
-by a prestigious law college in my country

[McBeck]

I read a bumper sticker once...

I could hit my brakes, and sue you!
-by a prestigious law college in my country
Are you not required to keep enough distance to the car infront of you, so they can do an emergency stop, without having you rear end them?

[rifleman13]

I read a bumper sticker once...

I could hit my brakes, and sue you!
-by a prestigious law college in my country Are you not required to keep enough distance to the car infront of you, so they can do an emergency stop, without having you rear end them?

About the required distance...
In driving school, they taught us one car length every 10 kph. I don't know any law here that specifies any kind of distance!

The justice system in my country is, well, a total wreck. A case can go on for years, judges could be bribed, there is an unlimited number of appeals that can be filed. It's just that bad!

And besides, in the Philippines, the law of the road is sometimes but not always enforced!:nope:

So if you're visiting the country... watch out!:o

[Schroeder]

All this money spent on 9-1-1
You have to pay to call 911 in the US? Here in Germany all emergency numbers are for free.:o

Maybe you should have a talk with a lawyer. He surely knows how to get that "lady".

[McBeck]

I read a bumper sticker once...

I could hit my brakes, and sue you!
-by a prestigious law college in my country Are you not required to keep enough distance to the car infront of you, so they can do an emergency stop, without having you rear end them?
About the required distance...
In driving school, they taught us one car length every 10 kph. I don't know any law here that specifies any kind of distance!

The justice system in my country is, well, a total wreck. A case can go on for years, judges could be bribed, there is an unlimited number of appeals that can be filed. It's just that bad!

And besides, in the Philippines, the law of the road is sometimes but not always enforced!:nope:

So if you're visiting the country... watch out!:oThey tell us that you muct allways make sure you have enough distance to brake, even if the car in front comes to a stop instantly.....rule of thumb is half the current speed (KM/H) will equal the distance in meters. So if im driving 90 km/h(app 55 mph) I need 45m(app 135 feet) to the car in front

[August]

You have to pay to call 911 in the US? Here in Germany all emergency numbers are for free.:o

He means pay for the service via taxes. The same way you pay for it in Germany.

[Schroeder]

Ah, o.k then I missunderstood this. Thanks for letting me know.:D

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Same kinda thing happened to my sister. Some ******* coasted infront of her on a roundabout because he missed his turning, and hit her. He stopped about 200 yards up the road, probably thinking of just driving away.

He gave her no details, just his fricken e-mail address. Then he drove off, leaving my sister on the side of the road.

Did he have to pay anything?

Did he f**k.

[Monica Lewinsky]

You have to pay to call 911 in the US? Here in Germany all emergency numbers are for free.:o

Slight misunderstanding due to my poor choice of words. The call is free - of course. I was speaking in terms of millions of dollars spent on the 9-1-1 equipment. Our state is broke, the voters in my county voted DOWN replacing the 20+ year old equipment.

Problem:
If your phone service is VOIP based, you come up on the the fire/police screen as "UN-KWOWN". They have no clue who and where you are calling from. Example: the people that fall the Comcast marketing gimmick, cable TV, Internet, and telphone service become un-kwown at the 9-1-1 centers. So instead of improving response times, they are regressing ... gradually.

[Etienne]

Actually, VOIP has figured out a way to give your adress to 911. The problem is that if you move your modem elsewhere, it still gives your billing address... So in Quebec at least, they'll lock the cable into the wall. Meaning you have to get a tech to come down if you need to move your desk or something. PITA, but at least you get 911.

I never tried it in the six months I had VOIP, but they assured me it worked. The cable company just sends over the information with your call - Just like caller ID.

Also, in some area (Like here) there's a "911 fee" on your phone or cell bill every month. I think it's 50 cents or something trivial like that.

[MothBalls]

I don't understand why you called 911 in the first place. Someone hit your parked car and was already long gone. It wasn't an emergency. 911 is supposed to be for life and death situations only, like if someone is dying from a heart attack, your house is on fire, or something like that.

It's not a replacement for the police departments phone number. The main reason it has so many problems is because people use it for everything under the sun, and it was never intended to be that.

You complain about all the trouble you had getting through. If you would have dialed 411 and asked for the number for the police department, they would have connected you to the right place and saved everyone some trouble.

[Etienne]

A lot of police departments will simply redirect you to 911 if you call the non-emergency line for something like that. It has become such that the non-emergency lines, in many places, are only used for administrative purposes or reaching an officer... Dispatch is handled through 911.

That's what I was told when I lived in a small town, anyway.

[MothBalls]

A lot of police departments will simply redirect you to 911 if you call the non-emergency line for something like that. It has become such that the non-emergency lines, in many places, are only used for administrative purposes or reaching an officer... Dispatch is handled through 911.

That's what I was told when I lived in a small town, anyway.

That is 100% completely untrue and incorrect. Small town or not, every PD and FD has a non-emergency number and your call will be routed to a dispatcher. <edit> Doesn't mean you will speak with a dispatcher directly, but your call will get there.</edit>

I'd appreciate it if you could cite a credible source for that statement. If anything, all agencies are looking for a way to prevent this type of abuse. Fines have been a topic of discussion but tabled because they don't want to discourage people from reporting actual emergencies.

It is a serious problem and one that needs to be solved. The 911 systems that are failing are because of unwarranted call volumes. Response to actual emergencies are being delayed because the public thinks 911 is the answer to everything, and it's not. It's for emergency use only. Simple as that.

Hint: You talking to someone who knows better, and knows the facts.

[Monica Lewinsky]

I don't understand why you called 911 in the first place. Someone hit your parked car and was already long gone. It wasn't an emergency. 911 is supposed to be for life and death situations only, like if someone is dying from a heart attack, your house is on fire, or something like that.

It's not a replacement for the police departments phone number. The main reason it has so many problems is because people use it for everything under the sun, and it was never intended to be that.

I can see your point, but you are out-to-lunch on this one or in the Twilight Zone. I was there, you were not.

Background:

I served for 10 years on this Fire Dept. and know not to "tie up" the emergency line:

http://tristatefire.org/

This is pre- 9-1-1 days:

When I first got married, we were busted, broke, after making a down payment on our first house [ mid 1970's]. To get extra money I use to work in the dispatch center on my "off" days to make some extra bucks. I use to get all kinds of off-the-wall calls. Funniest one was someone calling in to our fire department wanting to come out and fix their toilet that was over flowing - what the ?

I am FULLY aware that are NON-emergency numbers to ALL departments - police and fire having worked in one for 9 years. Have you worked in one and have more years of service then me?

The three 9-1-1 calls that I made, I CLEARLY made my point to the cell phone operator that my situation was NOT an emergency, but I did need to speak to someone at the Hinsdale, IL Police Dept. WHERE they connect me to is THEIR job and RESPONSIBILTY. Having worked part-time in a dispatch center, I am fully aware of the abuses to the 9-1-1 center. I made it CLEAR to the operator that I wanted a non-emergency avenue.

On a postive note, I do like to collect 9-1-1 calls as a side hobby.

My two Favorites - the first one just cracks me up - I enjoy it:

http://learnabit.homeserver.com/lab/math911.wmv

and, this guy said the wrong thing:

http://learnabit.homeserver.com/lab/911_operator_screws_up.wmv (http://learnabit.homeserver.com/lab/911_operator_screws_up.wmv)

So your point is MUTE and not appreciated.

[Etienne]

I'd appreciate it if you could cite a credible source for that statement. If anything, all agencies are looking for a way to prevent this type of abuse.

It's what I heard through the grapevine, I don't have a credible source. The local PD / FD / EMS where I've lived in the last fifteen years have essentially stopped advertising their non-emergency numbers; that probably contributed to the rumor. I don't even know the local police non-emergency number in my hometown (I used to know it, but we went through a municipal restructuring, so...)

That's probably part of the problem, from my point of view. I heard a few years ago that some communities were implanting 311 for non-emergency, do you know why that didn't become more widespread?

(Edit: Just found out 311's available in my home town. For the last three years. Great information campaign, there.)

[MothBalls]

I am FULLY aware that are NON-emergency numbers to ALL departments - police and fire having worked in one for 9 years.
Then you of all people should know better.


I did local law enforcement for five years and federal for three before getting injured in the line of duty and medically retired. I also served on a multi-agency panel trying to come up with viable solutions to solve the 911 abuse problem for Los Angles County.

Hopefully this will never happen to you or anyone here, but picture yourself looking down at a loved one suffering or dying, you dial 911 and get put on hold for 5 minutes while the operator is answering calls about someone who hit a parked car, locked themselves out of their car, or their toilet is overflowing.

If anything, all you just did was reinforce my point. You know better, and knew better before you made the call.

[Monica Lewinsky]

A lot of police departments will simply redirect you to 911 if you call the non-emergency line for something like that.

WHY?

Simple, ALL 9-1-1 calls are recorded, date stamped, time stamped etc. so the town/village/city can do a PYA and have their ducks inline with the lawyer representing their town. Virtually NO ONE in the towns/cities records the non-emergency calls.

Found this out on the NON-Emergency line to our PD compalining about the next door neighbor was throwing crap into the street. They told me to hang up and call 9-1-1. Made no sense to me. Dial 9-1-1 for garbage in the street? - Scratches her bald spot!


If anything, all you just did was reinforce my point. You know better, and knew better before you made the call.

Hugs and Kisses !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE are on the SAME page. Yea, we too, have 3-1-1 non-emergency call sevice.

MothBalls, sorry to see of your misfortunes - now I feel like a twerp for the rip!

Sorry ;)


Hopefully this will never happen to you or anyone here, but picture yourself looking down at a loved one suffering or dying, you dial 911 and get put on hold for 5 minutes while the operator is answering calls about someone who hit a parked car, locked themselves out of their car, or their toilet is overflowing.

Yea, hear ya load and clear.

This is what made me quit in 1980:

Was assigned to ambulance duty at that time. Got the alarms ringing for a person on the road, unresponsive and went there. I was 30 something at the time. Saw the guy on the ground when we got there. Saw purple fluid coming from his ears - that is spinal fluid - knew it was hopeless. Took him to the hospital to be pronounced dead. He got married about 10 days before the call, came back from their honeymoon, and was a victum of a hit and run while walking his new bride's dog. That did it for me. I quit and found another carrer in inspecting fire sprinkler systems for a comapny for the next 20 years. I have no nightmares, but 30 years later, I remember exactly how we found this poor guy - still bugs me. Not the guy that died - the driver that HIT HIM and just simply ... drove away.

[MothBalls]

Just wanted to say sorry, didn't mean to jump you. I guess you can understand how one incident can change your life. Sometimes you read/see/hear things that strike a nerve. This one did.

When I was working the street there were three incidents that stuck with me because being there a few minutes earlier would have made the difference. I won't go into details except to say that one was a 4 year old child and a few minutes would have made the difference. His grandmother told us she was on hold for 14 minutes before talking to an operator. We were 4 blocks away and our response time was less than 2 minutes.

That's why I volunteered to serve on the 911 solutions panel when I heard about it. They were soliciting input from multiple agencies and jurisdictions to come up with possible solutions. I worked this project on my own time, talking with people, writing documentation, etc. One of our recommendations was to give the operator the ability to immediately transfer non emergency calls to an automated call center. There were 100's of ideas that got canned, from fines, penalties, and my idea of reading them the riot act in 5 languages then sending 10,000 volts down the phone line. I don't know why they canned my idea, a bunch of us really liked it.

Oh, and the line "then you of all people should know better". I got pulled over by a CHP officer for doing 75 in a 55 in my POV. When he asked for my license, I just happened to let me creds slip open. He looked at it, asked me "are you a cop?". I said "why yes I am" hoping he might show me some professional courtesy. He said "well, you of all people should know better" and then he wrote me a speeding ticket. He told me he was planning on giving me a warning, until he saw my badge.

[Monica Lewinsky]

Just wanted to say sorry

Me too MothBalls - SORRY ;) . We have both served the public. They have NO CLUE on how we work to protect/save them from harm.

I do RESPECT your comments.

Speaking of Mothballs, have you ever entered a bathroom and said "jeez this bathroom smells like moth balls".

My response is: "I never got that close to to a Moth to smell his balls."

:D :D :D

My repair tag to fix my truck is now approaching $3,000 over a hit-and-run driver.

My intent was to say "THANKS" to the local police for finding the dingle-ling that hit me.

Police Officers are GREAT guys/gals to know.

Police = Nice folks!

If there any Police Officers playing SH3/SH4 you have my HIGHEST respects for taking the extra mile.

I was LUCKY to have a police officer who took the time to make an extra effort.

Nah, MAJOR problem that the average John/Jane Doe is BLIND to:

It is a serious problem and one that needs to be solved. The 911 systems that are failing are because of unwarranted call volumes. Response to actual emergencies are being delayed because the public thinks 911 is the answer to everything, and it's not. It's for emergency use only. Simple as that.

Hint: You talking to someone who knows better, and knows the facts.

MothBalls you got BIG BALLS and are so right on.

Thank you for your comments. Maybe one person [here] will realize 9-1-1 is NOT the answer to all your problems.

[McBeck]

I think we have the same kind of problem in many countries...

3 weeks before my wedding, my wife to be was out jogging. She has some allergies, but they have never been anything other than a discomfort.
This day she must have swallowed something, because she started to feal bad - really fast.
Luckily she was close to her parents house and went inside.
All she could say at this point was "Ambulance-ambulance" to her farther.
He called 112 (our emergency number) and reported to the situation.
(The hospital is just 1,5 mile from where they live)
They waited 5-10 min.
At this point she began to have trouble breathing and her face has swollen.
He had to call them again to make it clear that this was REALLY an emergency!

5 min later the ambulance came and gave her adrenalin and took her to the hospital...

A close call :dead:

[Schroeder]

Wouldn't it solve the problem to put a few more men to the emergency phone lines? I mean I don't think you can get the people to change their abuse of emergency calls, so the system has to evolve (otherwise a lot of people will pay the price for too slow responding times). In a stress situation one is sometimes not thinking clearly (a car accident, even one where only a parked car gets hit, can place some people into some real stress because they don't know what to do now) and this might add to the non emergency calls. So if the call centers weren't under crewed this would solve the problem wouldn't it? This doesn't have to be fully trained police officers but people who can answer calls and redirect the emergencies to the dispatcher while solving non emergencies themselves.

But this is again a question of money....:down:

[Bort]

Wow, this situation really sucks. I'm hoping it never happens to me. I was wondering if maybe Hinsdale's weird location partly in Cook and mostly in DuPage counties had anything to do with it. Its a bit out there, but those dispatchers are definately idiots regardless. A friend of mine had a similar issue recently with an accident on the Tri State tollway. He first had trouble getting the State Police dispatcher, and then the moron told the responding trooper that he was in a tractor trailer (his interpretation of an Audi TT) meaning that it took an hour of waiting on the side of the expressway for him to be found, and the trooper himself had to call him to figure out that he was indeed not in an 18 wheeler, but a german sports car. Idiots!

[Monica Lewinsky]

I was wondering if maybe Hinsdale's weird location partly in Cook and mostly in DuPage counties had anything to do with it.

DAMN BUBBA - you got it right !!!

I was parked at Ninth Street and County Line Road. [55th Street and County Line Road]. 90% of Hinsdale is in DuPage County the other 10% is in Cook County. I NEVER thought of this to now. I was smack dab on the street on the road that splits the town between the two counties. I DID make the phone calls from both sides of the street [County Line Road]. Man! now all the confusion makes sense!!!

Yea, that Fire Dept that I worked on for ten years has a bad name - Tri-State Fire Protection District considering the Tri-State tollway [I-294] runs one mile through it. It protects the towns of Burr Ridge, Darien, and Willowbrook, IL.

To this day, people think think the 50 miles of I-294 has its own fire department. ;)

A Fire DISTRICT in Illinois is its own governing body - reports to NO ONE but the county board. A Fire DEPARTMENT reports to it village/town/city's MAYOR and is a BRANCH of that towns government. Confusing for the average John/Jane Doe but there are 1,000's of them [fire DISTRICTS] in the USA.