People not dialling 999

[Conniebygaslight]

A couple of months ago, DH & I driving along a motorway nearish to home, noticed a young guy straddling the railings on the overhead bridge. I immediately dialled 999 giving details as best I could and carried on our journey.
later that evening I noticed on a local community page that the motorway had been closed for a couple of hours. People were speculating about it being ‘a jumper’ and lots of people were saying they’d seen him straddling the bridge. I commented that I’d seen him and had dialled 999. The next day there were a few replies to my comment from what I presume to be his family thanking me profusely as he had been helped by emergency services.
What staggered me was the amount of people who had simply driven past this obviously distressed individual and didn’t think to call for help.
I just wondered what other people would have done out of interest?

I’m so so sorry.

I did call 999 yesterday in a similar scenario. Well my DH did it while I used my phone map to try and explain where the man was. As one person it would have been trickier.

I was in the midst of a multi car pile up on an A road, dual carriage way, some years ago. I was fine, my car hadn't been hit, but I was behind the car that flipped over and caused the carnage behind. People were trapped, other people were running about, I just yelled as loud as I could, 'has anyone called 999?', blank looks all round, so I phoned and called in ambulance, fire and police. No one else bothered. I only asked because I didn't want the call centre barraged by 100 calls for the same thing - but no one phoned other than me.

People are odd, looking the other way and assuming someone else will help.

I saw a car on fire recently and dialled 999 immediately. It couldn't have been there long as I'd driven where it was on my way to drop something off 5/10 minutes before. The call handler said he had received several reports and they were on their way so I think people will ring, it's just not that easy when you're driving and potentially don't know the area well enough to give a location.
Obviously your scenario was different but I'd still ring just the same.

I don't think so. If I was driving on my own I wouldn't be able to ring as I don't have hands-free on my mobile, but if someone else was driving I certainly would have done.

Why would people be scared? I don't get that.

I have been in this situation when I spotted a grass fire on the side of the motorway. I pulled over and called the fire service and then went on my way. Stopping was perfectly legal as it was an emergency.

1. They may not have a phone
2. They didn't have hands free
3. The incident may have started just seconds before you phoned 999

Well done for calling it in. I don't know why people are being sarcastic to you. You did a good thing, which the family were also thankful for.

@Conniebygaslight

Maybe you were the first to spot it.... please don't assume because you were first people didn't care... there's lots of reasons people don't ring.

@Conniebygaslight

my actual job is taking 999 calls... I am surprised the call taker told you no one had called it in.. they would not know! In our office there are at least 10 to 15 people taking 999 calls... they do not know what each other is doing and don't have time to search for such things.

You have 2 minutes to log such a call and dispatch it.. so there's no time for having a look to see what anyone else is in with.

I know I'm triggered with your post... you just seem to want to glorify yourself!

You did no more or less than anyone else

If this happened a couple of months ago why are you posting about it now?

Thank you, I think people think I’m trying to gain brownie points. I’m really not. It happened weeks ago. I didn’t post it on social media either. I was just very surprised at other people and wondered what others thought.

Because I drove there again yesterday and I was reminded…

Think what you want,I really don’t.

Maybe not everyone likes to talk about what they’ve done on social media. Maybe they were alone in the car and it wasn’t legal for them to ring. It only takes one person to ring 999. Trust me the emergency services don’t need a deluge of calls about the same thing. It’s not a competition.

I'm so sorry.

I called in similar years ago and they got there in time.

Exactly….

Yours doesn't pop up with duplicate calls or ones close by?
I think you're being harsh, people don't always ring 999 as they think someone else has, it's one of the first things I was told in the job!

Good advice, although not everyone uses iPhone or has their phone close enough to do that.

Yet we are always being told that people will ring 999 for ridiculous reasons.

Most people wouldn't have commented they dialled 999 tbh, it's a bit of an odd/attention seeking thing to do.

I honestly can't stand it when people use the tragic situations of others to get a bit of attention for themselves.

There's no way the operator would have known if anyone else had called it in if he only just climbed and other people were calling at the same time either.

Good on you for calling, but I'm shocked you didn't wait and just carried on with your journey

And quite right too. Just imagine... someone perched on a bridge, idiots driving while phoning, distracted, swerving, massive pile-up. Using a mobile phone at the wheel is illegal for a very good reason.

People where probably in shock!

You did the right thing. And a lot of people just don't bother to report things. I don't buy the "people are alone don't have Bluetooth" argument. People travelling alone tend to be those who drive a lot and they DO have Bluetooth....