ROCK fans looking to jump around at this weekend’s Download Festival have been urgently warned to disconnect their smart watches.
Leicestershire Police say the devices wreaked havoc for the force in previous years, causing emergency calls to spike severely.
Download Festival will take place this weekend and Leicestershire Police are urging attendees to disable their automatic emergency calls on smart watches when getting into mosh pits[/caption]
Rock bands such as Green Day and Korn will no doubt get crowds moving this weekend[/caption]
The festival is known for its hard-core rock fans, and for many it wouldn’t be complete without some pushing and shoving in crowds[/caption]
Smart watches such as the Apple Watch or Google Pixel Watch have a built-in crash detection feature which is designed to alert emergency services when it detects the wearer has been in a “severe car crash”.
Many of these 999 calls are unnecessary, and caused by smart watches worn by those participating in mosh pits which “assume they have been in a collision”.
Users then have the option to cancel the call, but if no action is taken the device will proceed to dial 999.
Music fans who want to get involved in the rowdy, physical crowds at acts such as Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn, have been urged to put their wearable tech on airplane mode, or disable emergency calls.
Leicestershire Police receive around 600 emergency calls on a typical weekend, with this number leaping by 700 over the three days of Download Festival in Donington Park from June 13 to 15.
The force reports that: “All calls had to be assessed, with three outbound call attempts completed to ensure there is no threat, risk or harm, taking our contact handlers away from answering true emergency calls.”
This work takes handlers away from attending to true emergencies and puts undue stress onto the team.
Leicestershire Police said on Facebook: “#HelpUsHelpYou by answering our callbacks from hidden numbers to let us know you are safe.
“We also recommend switching on ‘airplane mode’ or disabling emergency alerts on your wearable tech.“
Apple have previously said that they are working to improve the accuracy of the crash detection feature to reduce the number of false calls.
