Summer Friday: Why Do We Call 911 For Emergencies?
How an easy-to-remember code replaced thousands of local numbers
Before 911, America had a very strange expectation of people in crisis: remain calm, diagnose your own emergency, know the correct local seven digit number, and call the right office. The system assumed you could think clearly at the exact moment you were least likely to be able to think clearly.
For something so woven into American life,…