911 on 9/11

It's ironic that I'd have such a story to tell on 9/11, which also happens to be National Preparedness Month.

Ironic, but also terrifying. It seems we (as a country) haven't learned a damn thing.

While driving in to work this morning, an accident occurred in front of me. By the looks of things, I must have just missed actually seeing it happen at the corner of Frankstown and Graham Blvd. The woman in the car looked hurt, but not seriously. Although I had a good view of things, I was pretty far back in traffic, and decided to do my duty by calling 911 and giving a calm description of the scene.

But the 911 line was busy. I tried calling four times, getting a busy signal each time.

I finally gave up, convincing myself that the lines must be busy because everyone else in traffic was also on their cell phone calling 911.

However, as I continued on to work, it occurred to me that a busy 911 line is never a source of consolation. This was one small accident involving two cars in the city of Pittsburgh. There couldn't be more than twenty people on their cell phones trying to call it in. If the city of Pittsburgh's 911 system can't handle a surge of 20 calls, we're in for serious problems if there's an emergency of any real size.

This sounds similar to my rant about how snowstorms immobilize the cell phone infrastructure. Fact is, if a serious emergency occurs, you're on your own buddy. You're not getting through on the phone lines, and there's not enough people to help. You'd better be able to save your own ass.

The thing I'm trying to say, that may not be apparent, is that it won't have to be a major emergency to shut things down. We won't need the flood of 2004 to overwhelm the city's emergency infrastructure. As these two incidents demonstrate, even a minor fire or slightly ugly snowstorm could shut things down, leaving average citizens to self-rescue.

I can only hope that Pittsburgh is unique among cities in its lackadaisical approach to emergency preparation, but I don't believe it. The Katrina disaster made headlines because the lack of preparation resulted in so much devastation, but I don't think the situation is unique. We're all just waiting for a disaster large enough to demonstrate how ill prepared we are.

Apparently, part of the problem here is how broken the 911 system is. According to first-hand accounts by co-workers, city services tell you to "call 911" instead of handling non-emergency situations themselves. As a result, the 911 lines are frequently tied up with calls of a non-emergency nature, referred to them by emergency service agencies that should know better!

Go on, do your own little personal survey. As around with your friends and co-workers to see if they've been referred to 911 when they called the power company about a downed line. Ask if they've ever called 911 and got a busy signal.

Prove me wrong. Please.