Have Emergency Response Systems Gotten Too Invasive?

Tweet

Recently the Ontario Provincial Police implemented a new system, in which emergency alerts are sent to all cell phones (they've beeDear Nancy. It's really not as cut-and-dry, as people would like to think. I can not speak for the rest, but with heartfelt intentions, I'd like to share my own unique reason for feeling those alerts to be potentially dangerous to some. -- I am legally blind, have SUPER sensitive hearing, and mobility issues that screw with my physical balance, and ability to move quickly. I have NO sound filter, and tend to be quickly driven crazy by "regular" noise. I am NOT exaggerating, here!!! My way of deaing with this is to filter noise with music. Making the world around me a quieter place is not an option, so I use different frequences to soften the noises around me. This does not prevent me from hearing them (OMG, I'd have to be dead!!!!), but rather it prevents the intensity. My husband, and many who know me, will verify that when I don't have the option of tempering various sounds, it will throw off all my senses. When overloaded by noise, I will become so disoriented, that I actually won't know where I am. It's happened before. - Imagine, if you will, someone like me walking across the street, with music balanced so that I can hear the traffic which I can not necessarily see. I'm in the middle of the road, on time, focused on the light which I can see "well enough" and whichI have timed perfectly. All of a sudden there's a voice in my ear, and because my hands are full, one with my white support cane, and the other holding onto the handle of my computer bag to keep it from swinging because my issues make me waddle instead of walk, and suddenly I get one of those alerts. Before I have a chance to stop and yank out the headphones (do I really have time to stop in the middle of the Hanlon Expressway?) that high....pitched......NOISE, right in my ear!!!!! If I make it across the screet, I'll be friggen lucky! Suddenly, the chances of my getting hit by a car have gone up about 90%!!!!! Unless I find a way to opt out of those alerts, should i go through life fearing the very device that, for so long, has allowed me to be able to function better? -- My husband, on the other hand, is going deaf (being a combat vet will do that!), and suffers from PTSD. Someone dropped a broom in the cafe the other day, and he dove under the table. When he came back up, he told me what kind of gun that sounded like. The door lock in our old apartment sounded like an AK-47 being cockHed. He does not wear headphones as I do, because with his impending deafness, he would not be able to wear them and still hear. Not long ago he was crossing a rather dangerous intersection in our town, and an ambulance came to the light. As ambulances will do, it turned on it's siren, as soon as it got to the intersection, and this proximity to him caused him to HIT THE DECK!!! There was my husband lying on the road in the middle of the Gordon and Wellington intersection!!! That driver was cool, and actually got out to see if he was OK. He got back up, realied it was an ambulance, came around, and continued walking. Guess what? Now ambulances here in town start their sirens a little earlier, so they're not right on top of an unfortunate pedestrian. It all worked out, but it not, hy husband could have been run over by an abumlance, OR the person in need of the ambluance could have been delayed care. Believe me, his reaction was NOT deliberate. -- While it is true that someone's child's life is on the line, we still have to be careful when sending Amber Alerts into people's private cell phones. A visual message that stays on the screen might be a more viable option. -- Another possible issue could be "emergencies upon emergencies." Imagine this situation Child on phone: Mom. OMG! Mom I've been in an accident and... THIS IS A TEST OF THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICE....... -- Believe me, I've thought of this from top to bottom, and can speak with logic and reason when I say that these alerts CAN go too far. n sent to TV's for years as tests) when there is an impending disaster, or as an Amber Alert (if a child goes missing. This sounds like a good idea in theory, right? Please allow me to weigh in with a side as yet unconsidered. -- I've heard it said that people are disgusted by folks annoyed by these alerts, but having lived my own reasons, I want to give the annoyed the benefit of the doubt. It may go way beyond mere annoyance. It could be dangerous! Thoughts?