iPhone alerts first responders to a deadly accident
Accident scene
Lincoln, Nebrasca, 2 October 2022
Image: WOWT.com
Yesterday, at about 02:00 local time a vehicle carrying 6 people, 5 men and a woman, ran into a tree in Lincoln, Nebraska. The 5 men died on the spot, the woman died at a hospital later. The first responders knew they had an accident on their hands right away - not because a human called their attention to it, but because a new iPhone 14 has an accelerometer which is gauged to view an acceleration exceeding a certain G-load as a sign of an emergency situation, triggering a call to a local emergency center. This is a very helpful technology - which, sadly, did not save any lives in this particular situation. But I suspect there was truly nothing anybody could have done to save these victims' lives.
It is also curious that this accident is named the Lincoln's deadliest in recent memory. Which is testament to how safe modern automotive technology is in comparison to how it used to be even a few decades ago.
References
iPhone alerts first responders to crash that killed six young people
Yaron Steinbuch, New York Post, 3 October 2022
I wish it would have saved any life.
Me too.
But realistically what suspect it that they were partying, driving way too fast and someone either fell asleep or totally spaced out. So they literally drove into a tree full speed, probably at over 120 km/h. If that was what happened - well, they never had a chance, really, modern vehicles are safe but not that safe.