It came into my phone moments ago, a siren warning screeching in my pocket about an Amber Alert. It sounded like the Emergency Broadcast System that we were trained, as kids, would come in the event of some type of cataclysm. It sounded like this.
And my questions are, how many did this go out to?
How many were driving in their cars, and took there eyes off the road to see what the emergency was?
Has the NYPD never heard of distracted driving?
Did the NYPD just cause accidents because of this? Were any injured? Or killed?
I understand the need to catch bad guys who may have kidnapped kids. But there is a difference between using a system and abusing it.
The NYPD may well have caused more harm than good with this message. Somebody forgot to measure the pros and cons have sending out mass emergency texts.
According to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, 800,000 kids are reported missing each year. Can you imagine how many Ambler Alerts that would result in? Broadcasting to radio stations and roadside signs are one thing, but sending all those screeching texts to cell phones?
Whoever made the decision to distract so many drivers by having them take their eyes off the road must have rocks in the head.
This is what the web version looks like for what appeared on my phone:
I got one for an elderly man lost fifty miles away, and almost steered into a parked car. I disabled the alerts on my phone.
I got one for an elderly man lost fifty miles away, and almost steered into a parked car.
If you give someone a new shiny toy, I guess they feel compelled to use it. No matter how dumb it may be to use.
I disabled my alerts after the one that went out at 3am.
Mine is now disabled. But I’m guessing that it hit tens of thousands of drivers, including those in Westchester….very far away from where this guy was allegedly going (Brooklyn).
They need to do a cost-benefit analysis. It isn’t enough that there might be benefits, when the costs might be considerable.