On old dial phones when you had to ring a number, you had to put your finger in the hole and rotate the dial to the beginning. Surely it would have been much better to make the emergency services number '111' or similar. I have never found out why the number '999' was chosen as this takes a lot longer to dial!
2006-09-13 05:26:39 · 20 answers · asked by Andy J 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
What does it mater, the police take days to turn up anyway
2006-09-13 06:17:02 · answer #1 · answered by bwadsp 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What country are you in? It's always been 911 here in the states. Just like 611 is repair, 411 is information and I think 311 is non emergency. These numbers were all established under the North American Numbering Plan Administration. NANPA, and the rotary dial was well on their way out when the 911 program was established.
2006-09-13 05:36:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The 999 number was chosen due to the fact that in the old telephone exchanges, the equipment consisted of a number of rotating and climbing switches know as the "Strowger" system, and when a number was dialled, the first switch would rotate and rise to the top of the column to connect with the digit 9, so when you dialled three nines, there would be three switches together right at the top, so that if necessary, the calling number could be found simply by looking for the 'three in a row' toggles. There was never a likelihood of it being three zeros (which was in fact at the very top of the column, being in fact the number 'ten') because there were no such numbers in use in those days.
2006-09-13 05:55:23 · answer #3 · answered by Dover Soles 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
On the old dial phones, you can find the 9 easily (next-to-last hole, going clockwise - and this is the important bit - in the dark, or a smoke-filled room! The number 1 is too tempting for little tots' fingers, so 999 needs to be a delibrate dialling.
2006-09-13 05:34:39 · answer #4 · answered by Peter C 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
999 was chosen because the number 9 was closest to the little bit of metal which marked the end of the dial.
This meant that even in the dark, or if you were blind, you could easily find the 9 and hence dial faster.
2006-09-13 05:35:01 · answer #5 · answered by savs 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
easy to remember, tough to misdial, when introduced unlikely they would go past 999 as an individual number.
Ain't it weird the American number is 911 or 9/11 - what an emergency that was!
2006-09-13 05:37:19 · answer #6 · answered by Michael E 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you had to make the call in the dark, it was easier to find the no.9 on an old dial phone.
2006-09-13 05:34:49 · answer #7 · answered by Nettle 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In France, it's easier : we dial 18 ^^
2006-09-13 05:35:03 · answer #8 · answered by Jason Perceval 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good Point
I think in America they use 9ll is it a coincident for emergency on 9/11? in view of the conspiracy stories going around.
2006-09-13 05:38:15 · answer #9 · answered by AndyPandy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because you had to go to the bottom of the phone and no other numbers started with 9. Its all changing soon.
2006-09-13 11:17:12 · answer #10 · answered by deadly 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps because it would be very unlikely to be dialed by accident and also you wouldn't need to see the dial clearly.
2006-09-13 05:31:01 · answer #11 · answered by Nebulous 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋