Wednesday, January 30, 2008

999

"Can you tell me the speed limit on Airport Road going toward Al Rashidiya?"

"I have been waiting for a taxi for so long, but all of them are refusing to stop ... what do I do? "

"I have a traffic fine ... can you tell me when it was issued?"



These are but a few examples of trivial and inane calls made to 999 every day!!! A staggering 573,471 calls were made to 999 in 2007 and these were not emergencies. Most were enquiries on speed limits on roads, location of certain departments, traffic fines, transactions related to the Naturalisation and Residency Department, trading issues and complaints against taxi drivers.

the rest of this article published yesterday in Gulf News here.

Where has common sense evaporated from the minds of these silly people??!!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it 999? That makes it very easy for someone to dial it by mistake! Or a cell phone to dial it from your purse or pocket!
Anyway, if people can't see the speed limit who do they ask? :)

Marvin said...

The same problem exists in London. Brainless prats, all of them. I think the taxpayers would be better served by decommissioning the phone number and letting people fend for themselves. ;-) I think in the US, non-emergency 911 calls are a prosecutable/fine-able offense, which is the way it should be. If the call is not an emergency, the punishment should be painful.

Anonymous said...

LOL I would call it because 9 is my favorite number. lol no really, people are rediculous!

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

Q: we have 911 as well, for ppl who move in to dubai from the states or whatever and by force of habbit r used to 911 they can actually get assistance on that number when needed.

to answer ur q, Q, there is a designated number for dubai police, abudhabi police, where fines, limits and locations are all there on a bloody IVR! so nobody's time is wasted but still ppl enjoy their ignorance!

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

marv: thats what i respect bout the american system! indeed there shud be a fine for this, so ppl learn not to waste prescious time like that, someone might be in serious need of help and the numbers are hogged by idiots who r left unpunished..

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

batoul: irrelevant as it may be, mine is 8 :D lol

and yes, some ppl ma warahum salfa as the locals wud say..

Mais said...

3an jad 3alam fadyeh! and sedg ma 3indhoum salfa ba3ad :D

now i would call the police if a car is blocking my way in the parking...it happened like a couple of times...u know when ppl are doing the double parking and there's no way to get ur car out except if they move theirs..i try not to abuse this service though...enu i call them only when there's really no way to get out :)

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

mayous: sha66oura :D

il 7elo in sharjah, inno fi ra2am anjaad, hadol tab3oun 7awades allah ye7meena and stuff like car towing and wa7ad msakker 3aleiki w heik, which keeps the 999 number exclusively for emergencies.. one good thing bout sharjah (maybe the only one lol)

saba7ek sukkar bannout :give:

الاقصى