10398 Emergency Telephone Numbers

And of course the actual one in Italy is 118. I wonder which one will get the fastest response.

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96680]And of course the actual one in Italy is 118. I wonder which one will get the fastest response.[/quote]
Sally, it is exactly that kind of mis-information that needs to be dispelled as soon as possible. 112 is the number you need to remember in the event of an emergency. Nothing else, or you will be confused at the wrong moment.

112 - read the link, Sally. Read it please in case one day you actually are faced with an emergency and don't have any idea what you need to dial to contact the emergency services. 112. OK!

My friend in Italy told me 118, Nardini. Cool it please.

Please add to my post above - [url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/general-chat-about-italy/10213-emergency-numbers.html[/url]

Italian Tourist Office [and other websites] gives;-

[url=http://www.italiantouristboard.co.uk/it/ind/i75.html]Italian State Tourist Board - Telephone and mobile phone[/url]

USEFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS:

Emergency Police: 113
Carabinieri: 112
Fire Department: 115
Road Assistance: 116
Medical Emergencies: 118
International Inquiries: 176
Phone Directory Assistance: 12
[I believe that these numbers are all free from phone boxes]

.

I wonder what that International Enquiries is all about Alan.

[QUOTE=Nardini;96679] Withe awareness of this number running at only 6% in the UK - only 4% know that it is also the UK emergency number - it is, I consider, very important that all of the myths and falsehoods regarding what number to dial in an emergency are dispelled as a matter of some urgency.

Good point Nardini. The awareness % surprised me, and then I thought, I 'm one of the 4%. As you say, 112 is the only number you need to remember for any emergency. All other numbers are just useful.

My point was that if it is a common one for Europe it might take a wee while for the call to be directed to Italy - valuable time

I would assume that each country has it's own exchange.

All EU telco's are under regulatory obligation to recognise the 112 shortcode and route such calls directly to the national location already used for their combined emergency services. That routing involves no additional delay whatsoever. So, if I call 112 in the UK, my call is delivered by the same Telco, over the same switch(es) to the same team of operators as it would have been had I dialed 999.

[quote=HelenMW;96692]I would assume that each country has it's own exchange.[/quote]

Yes, they do. It is only the number which is in common so that people can easily remember it, wherever they are.

Does anyone know why 112 was chosen as the emergency number over any other combination? (could be a trick question.)

Quite a comprehensive website and I;m sure the answer is there!!! [url=http://www.eena.org]EENA - European Emergency Number Association - News[/url]

This information is also good and it explains how it works in different countries:

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_telephone_number]Emergency telephone number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

[quote=juliancoll;96698]Does anyone know why 112 was chosen as the emergency number over any other combination? (could be a trick question.)[/quote]

Since the introduction of mobile phones, the choice of the number 999 has become a particular problem for UK emergency services, as same-digit sequences are most likely dialled by accident due to vibrations and other objects colliding with a keypad. This problem is less of a concern with emergency numbers that use two different digits (e.g., 112, 911).

112 was possibly chosen as easy to do on a mobile keypad, as for a right-hander the thumb tends to rest on '1' [well it does for me anyway]

Did you know - if you have to dial 112, you don't need to unlock a mobile phone - they have overrides that allow you to do '112' followed by 'dial' at all times - this is useful if you come across an accident and you need to use the victim's [locked phone]

----

just checked on my mobile - the override works for 999 and 911 as well.

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[quote=juliancoll;96698]Does anyone know why 112 was chosen as the emergency number over any other combination? (could be a trick question.)[/quote]
112 was originally introduced as a 'built in' part of the GSM standard (i.e. the mobile phone network standard used in most of the world outwith the USA). It is therefore usable ANYWHERE in the world from a GSM mobile (even when that mobile has its keypad and/or SIM locked, is PAYG but out of credit, or where the "home" network is out of coverage but other networks have a signal ... in fact, even if there is no SIM in the phone at all, 112 will still work on a GSM handset).

It has been adopted as the EU single number - I assume - because of that existing precedent and to avoid introducing yet another short code beyond those already in use.

As to why 112 was originally chosen for GSM, I don't know. It's a crappy choice ergonomically, as any repeated digits and digits in close proximity on the keypad always cause a lot of misdials/accidental dials. In fact, I believe that BT actually insert a (very brief) delay on 112/999 prior to connection (to allow those who've misdialed to realise it & hang up before taking an operators time). However, it is a bit of a magic number (as the cell networks will attempt to prioritise such calls when there is network congestion). My guess is that there were so many other short codes already allocated in individual GSM territories that 112 was the most memorable one available. But thats just speculation and no doubt a committee was involved (and we all know that a camel is a horse designed by a comittee).

EDIT - just indiulged in a bit of lateral thinking and realised that in days of yore, we had rotary phones (the old bakelite jobs with a round mechanical dial) ... I suspect that in some (cleverer than UK) parts of the world, they allocated low digit numbers for emergency services as it must take about 1.5 seconds to dial "112" on a rotary phone ... as opposed to about 3-4 seconds for "999" ???

EDIT #2 - well, I should just give in to google like everyone else. Apparently the UK selected 999 precisely [B]because[/B] it took longer to dial "accidentally" (presumably this was aimed at stopping kids from fiddling with the dial, as it's not really possible for a compis mentis adult to accidentally dial 3 wrong digits on a rotary phone). Also, as rotary dial phones mechanically make/break the loop current (digit '9' = nine pulses on the wire) then a faulty line (or one being worked on) may generate random pulses, but probably not 3x9 = 27 in a row ...

Also, 112 was actually selected by CEPT in 1972 (still no justification for the selection though ...) & therefore predates GSM by a good decade or so. Here is the dreaded "wiki" for anyone interested [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_telephone_number]Emergency telephone number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url].

This may be a silly question, but why didn't they choose 111.... easier to dial.....

"It's a crappy choice ergonomically, [B]as any repeated digits[/B] and digits in close proximity on the keypad [B]always cause a lot of misdials/accidental dials.[/B]"

111 would fall into this category.

[quote=pigro;96706]

EDIT - just indiulged in a bit of lateral thinking and realised that in days of yore, we had rotary phones (the old bakelite jobs with a round mechanical dial) ... I suspect that in some (cleverer than UK) parts of the world, they allocated low digit numbers for emergency services as it must take about 1.5 seconds to dial "112" on a rotary phone ... as opposed to about 3-4 seconds for "999" ??? [/quote]

Signore pensatore laterale e' corretto!

[quote=pigro;96706]

EDIT #2 - well, I should just give in to google like everyone else. [/quote]

Non sono nessuno per vietarti di fare - ma Dio ce ne scampi e liberi perche' come voi potreste gia' sapere - abbiamo di numerosi esperti qui. :laughs:

[quote=juliancoll;96710]
Non sono nessuno per vietarti di fare [/quote] vero, nessuno eccetto io me stesso!

That's not J+C trying to baffle me again??? lol

To reassure anyone who is unclear - 112 will immediately connect you to the nearest emergency response centre to your exchange (or cell). There is no additional redirection involved.

Interestingly if you were a US visitor and mistakenly dialled 911 you would also be immediately channeled as above. No such routing exists (in Italy) for the UK's historical emergency number 999.

Yes but can't help feeling that one number must be directed to one of a few departments whereas if you dial 118 you do get straight through to the medical emergency and my instinct if in Italy would be to use that one if medical is what I needed..

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96715]That's not J+C trying to baffle me again??? lol[/quote]

Trying or succeeding? :bigergrin:

Sally, you can trust me that it wasn't anything remotely important, but you really should use 112 - no matter what [I]your[/I] instinct tells you.

When in Rome etc ..... Hope I'm not tempting providence when I say I'm a die hard!!! lol

A question from a dimwit! Yes I have previously mentioned that 112 is the number to use but I wonder if someone is using a non Italian phone (ie English mobile) would they have to dial 0039 112?

[quote=Noble;96724]A question from a dimwit! Yes I have previously mentioned that 112 is the number to use but I wonder if someone is using a non Italian phone (ie English mobile) would they have to dial 0039 112?[/quote]
no, just 112 alone, wherever you are in Europe and whatever phone (landline, payphone, local/international mobile phone).

[quote=Sally Donaldson;96719]Yes but can't help feeling that one number must be directed to one of a few departments whereas if you dial 118 you do get straight through to the medical emergency and my instinct if in Italy would be to use that one if medical is what I needed..[/quote]
You have a point in that the combined services need to ask an initial question to identify the purpose of your call and then route you to the most appropriate emergency service to deal with it.

However, I assume that you don't speak sufficient Italian (especially while undergoing a medical emergency) to describe in clear detail what your problem is. If so, I'd still use 112 and ask immediately for an English speaker. IMO, It's more likely that there will be such a person available pronto (ha ha) on the main number. A bilingual operator would ensure that you got quickly routed to the department most appropriate to your circumstances (and that said department got a clear idea of the problem prior to the call being transferred).

That's just general advice - there may well be a bank of multilingual medical emergency operators always available, I have no idea - but I'd definitely play the percentage game where my health was concerned.

I would be able to give the address and add :"pronto" I think lol

I think that Pigro has answered most questions pretty well now.

I would just add the following - from memory, not Google. The reason that the UK chose 999 as the emergency number in the first place was because in the long lost days of rotary dial telephones, the 9 was next to the number by the stop**. So, it was possible to dial 999 in the dark - or in a smoke filled room, for example, by feeling for the stop and then putting your second finger in the hole, index finger in the hole next to it - pushing the dial around 3 times (more didn't hurt and, in fact, you only needed to dial 99 from most telephone exchanges for the operator to pick the call up - "Emergency - which service do you require?".

Yes, your 999 call was always routed to your local telephone exchange, where a telephone operator answered it in the first place, putting you through to the appropriate - sometimes multiple - emergency services.

In Italy, the 112 number is routed via the Carabiniere (notice the number is the same as the big list of numbers some are showing). Yes, Sally, you can call one of the services directly - as, in the UK, you can dial the local hospital. It is no faster to do so because the Carabiniere are the most efficient of the Italian emergency services in any case. You may even find that an ambulance will appear even more quickly once the Carabiniere call for one rather than you, in your broken, or non-existent, Italian.

So, the upshot is that you call 112 and don't confuse yourselves with a great long list of numbers at a time when you are really only thinking; "Jeez .. why don't these Italians have a nice simple number to call, like 999, instead of this list of 73 different ones". Well, now you know that they do - thanks to the EU and the attempt to rationalise and standardise emergency services throughout Europe.

A final point is this; should you witness a road accident, what should you do? Which service would you call? Fire, to release the wounded? Ambulance to help the wounded (although, there isn't much an ambulance can do if the wounded are still trapped in the car) or the police to stop more passing traffic from hurling themselves into the accident, adding more carnage to the accident you first saw?

You know that 112 makes the most sense and that to complicate it is just being either stubborn or silly.

Yes, strong words, but I would like to think that if it is me in that road accident, I might have a chance of some help, rather than hear in my last moments alive on this earth, an argument as to which number you should ring first!

** The number next to the stop was/is 0 - the number you dialled (then) for the operator. 9 was the only number that never started any service or private telephone number in those days. So, 9 was the digit - and multiple dials to prevent mistakes. Interestingly (for some) it was a well known fact (that word again) that if you wished to rob a bank, you only had to get a few friends dial 999 to use up the available "999" circuits. After that, you would get the engaged tone when calling 999. So, break in and rob with the knowledge that no one would be calling 999 to spoil your day. On that day, any way...

Well what a surprise...Italy has not implemented 112 and is in the Poo! [url=http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=408263]EU reprimands Italy over emergency number[/url]

[quote=Noble;97358]Well what a surprise...Italy has not implemented 112 and is in the Poo! [url=http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=408263]EU reprimands Italy over emergency number[/url][/quote]
No, Noble, the story that you point to is somewhat at odds with the actual situation here. [URL="http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/112/ms/it/index_en.htm"]The EU has taken infringement proceedings with respect to automatic caller location services[/URL], which have not been fully implemented yet - on ANY number, not just 112.

The fact remains that if you wish to make an emergency telephone call, as you would dial 999 in the UK, you dial 112.

Well spotted Noble, but it does put into doubt many of the posts on this thread which assume it is a reliable number to use . Back 118 for ambulance then?.
A

[quote=Angie and Robert;97365]Well spotted Noble, but it does put into doubt many of the posts on this thread which assume it is a reliable number to use . Back 118 for ambulance then?.
A[/quote]
send three and fourpence, we are going to a dance...

Or, Chinese whispers. They are the single most problematic issue when it comes to the internet. The links I have given have been official EU links that point out the realities of life - not factionalised or fictionalised accounts in various national press organs.

As I pointed out before, in the event of an emergency, you call the emergency services on 112. This is the old number for the Carabiniere service in Italy, so not even remotely as "mickey mouse" as has been insinuated by some.

Need I add that this is an emergency-only number - not just a number to use if you need to book an ambulance to take you to hospital for the removal of an in-growing toe nail.

And your point Nardini is?, or am I missing something if so plse explain without the sarcasm, it is uncalled for, we are all trying to grasp the facts here,
A

[quote=Nardini;97364]No, Noble, the story that you point to is somewhat at odds with the actual situation here. [URL="http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/112/ms/it/index_en.htm"]The EU has taken infringement proceedings with respect to automatic caller location services[/URL], which have not been fully implemented yet - on ANY number, not just 112.
[/quote]

actually that infringement (About call location) was opened in 2006 and has not yet come before the court. The new referral is (as stated in the original link by Noble) due to an inability to transfer calls. The following excerpt from IP/08/1342 sums it up:

[I]The Commission is today sending a letter of formal notice to Italy about the effectiveness of 112 calls handling and answering. The various emergency response systems of many Member States, including Italy, in particular police, ambulance, fire and rescue service, run separate call centre systems using different numbers. These Member States have to ensure that the handling and answering of 112 calls is as effective as for calls made to other national emergency numbers. This is not always the case in Italy because call centres of the emergency service in charge of receiving 112 calls cannot transfer callers to the centres of other required emergency services.[/I]

you can read the full text at [URL="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1342&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en"]Rapid - Press Releases - EUROPA[/URL] as well as an annex table in which the current status of all infringment proceedings is presented.

After all that, the commission's pronouncement is still ambiguous as to whether transfers are [B]never[/B] possible or not [B]always[/B] possible - very different situations (but I suspect it's the latter).

How weird is that, I went away to cook dinner (OK you dont need to know that ) and thought mmm, Pigro would have a comment to make on that, plse come back more often Pigro!
A

How strange, that a statement of fact - such as the emergency telephone number throughout Europe being 112 - can be taken as a point of discussion by some.

If you are in Italy, France, Germany, Spain the UK, or any of the other original EU member states, you only need to remember one telephone to summon emergency help. This is not a statement of hope or intent. It is a simple statement of fact.

To try to continue to eke an argument out of this statement of historical and current fact is - how can I put this kindly - in error.

You can, as turtle says, call 118 - but it won't be any help if you have been involved in a road traffic accident, as I said before. You can ring any of the numbers published in earlier posts - including directory enquiries - but you will not find the emergency services that you have come to expect by dialling 999 in England (or even Scotland!). If you dial 112, however, you will find people that will deal with your emergency. It matters not a jot that there are infringement proceedings taking place, the fact still remains that the emergency number in Italy - as with the rest of the EU member states - is 112.

If anyone still wishes to argue the point, bear in mind that someone of lesser intelligence than your good self might fail to remember the way to summon emergency help for the road accident you might very well find yourself in one day. I hope that thought will take the edge off your combative urges.

Quoting the EU's own up to date findings (as Noble did, in the form of a link to a news artice, and to which I added the official text after your inaccurate dismissal of it's content/relevance) is perfectly legitimate, and about as far from "Chinese whispers" as it's possible to get. Why should it NOT be "a point for discussion" here? Your view is not the only one that counts.

I personally agree that 112 is the sensible option, and the EU's recent findings don't change that - it simply reassures me that the service is being actively monitored for quality - but others here have every right to express a legitimate concern, and to make their own minds up, based on[B] all [/B]the relevant [B]facts[/B] - whether or not you consider that to exhibit their "combative urge".

-[quote=Nardini;97414]If anyone still wishes to argue the point, bear in mind that -someone of lesser intelligence than your good self might fail to remember the way to summon emergency help for the road accident you might very well find yourself in one day. .[/quote]

As Homer Simpson once said in a blind panic

WHATS THE NUMBER FOR 9-1-1............

I agree Nardini and others ........keep it simple :laughs:

Come, come now people - fight your side - we all enjoy a good old argument on here from time to time - so it may as well be about to 112 or not to 112 - is that the question?

Actually, [B]to 112 [/B]sounds a bit like an owl with a lisp if you ask me. :bigergrin:

[quote=juliancoll;97451]Come, come now people - fight your side - we all enjoy a good old argument on here from time to time - so it may as well be about to 112 or not to 112 - is that the question?

Actually, [B]to 112 [/B]sounds a bit like an owl with a lisp if you ask me. :bigergrin:[/quote]

Hi
Now your just being a twit twoo:laughs:

[quote=deborahandricky;97458]Hi
Now your just being a twit twoo:laughs:[/quote]

A twit to who? :laughs:

[quote=Nardini;97414]

You can, as turtle says, call 118 - but it won't be any help if you have been involved in a road traffic accident, as I said before. You can ring any of the numbers published in earlier posts - including directory enquiries - but you will not find the emergency services that you have come to expect by dialling 999 in England (or even Scotland!). If you dial 112, however, you will find people that will deal with your emergency. It matters not a jot that there are infringement proceedings taking place, the fact still remains that the emergency number in Italy - as with the rest of the EU member states - is 112.
[/quote]
This is not strictly true as if you were to phone 118 because had been in a traffic accident and needed medical assistance but also required another emergency service the 118 operators will automatically contact theses people for you (I did a 12 week first aid course at a local Croce Verde and had a whole 2 hour lesson on 118!).
In saying that I would still be inclined to call 112 (which until this thread I had always thought was for carabiniere) as I think you would be more likely to get an English speaker as in an emergency situation I have a feeling that most of my Italian would leave me andanyway why make life harder for yourself- one number is always easier to remember