How difficult could this be to set up? (And how much would they charge us?!)A line at the top of your bill for that month which tells you how many times (if any) you accidentally called 999 or 911 or 112 or 000 when your phone was in your pocket/handbag. Might make people more efficient at making sure the keylock was on. --------perhaps I should have missed the next part out, because the point of this idea has nothing whatsoever to do with a new way for phone companies to make money but clearly the source of the problem (60% of emergency calls wasting the time and resources of the emergency services) could be connected to the solution - bit of extra cash for those actually inconvenienced by the problem---------could generate revenue if you make more than 10 inadvertant emergency calls per month (of course any that are genuine are automatically logged and marked off your bill, by the emergency response call centre). Perhaps the revenue could go to all the people with names beginning with 'a' who get called accidentally too, being at the start of people's phone book lists. Perhaps not.-- sappho, Feb 20 2002 inspired by stats here http://www.halfbake...idea/Phone_20no-911 [sappho, Feb 20 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004] My phone (Nokia) has a "Dialled Numbers" list, which shows me - amazingly - the numbers I have dialled. And anyway, I don't fancy giving the phone companies another way to rob me blind.-- calum, Feb 20 2002 I know there are many many people who have never dialled a wrong number in their entire lives, but for those who have, it might be pertinent to have a little reminder of how frequently they do it just in case they hadn't realised. I mean, you have a space on your driving licence for naughty-points even though you have never broken the speed limit, right?-- sappho, Feb 20 2002 Inadvertant emergency calls aren't so much the problem as inadvertant calls to people's answerphones when you're drunk in a cab/club. Especially if you have a gossip-y nature.-- notripe, Feb 20 2002 [PeterSealy] - According to current statistic unless you have always had a flipphone (bulky things) then you have probably dialed it at some point.-- CasaLoco, Feb 21 2002 I've had 4 mobiles, none a flip-phone, but I've never dialled the emergency services by accident. I once called my mum by mistake taking my phone out of my bag, but that's once on a phone I didn't like and hardly ever used (that's the phone I was given by my company and that they know the number of, so it's (a) cheap and (b) never with me). A soft cover generally does the trick, or use the keypad lock facility.
On the other hand, my friend Angela who everyone texts when they're drunk might go for the last part of the idea. But having your name first in the alphabet brings benefits too.-- pottedstu, Feb 21 2002 random, halfbakery