Try discussing that with the family of the murder victim Sally Geeson. She wrongly believed an emergency 999 (911 to North Americans) cost money so she did not call when she knew her life was in imminent danger as she had no credit left on her phone:
"...tragic consequences last year when Sally Geeson, a student, was abducted and murdered in Cambridge. Sally, whose phone had run out of call credit, sent a series of texts asking for help to friends, apparently not realising that she could have made a 999 call for free."
I intentionally mentioned the charge as a discount, for the purpose of not charging immediately. After the report is investigated and settled the caller either be charged or not. The point is the call could always be made and would be free, only in case of abuse of the number the number would be charged via telephone company. So anyone in danger could call and be sure that he wouldn't pay. The only problem I see here is prepaid phones which could be discarded after use.
OR just make calls free and hire more operators and provide training.
You're right, because lives lost due to delays include some rich and therefore worthy people, so a system that saved them and killed more poor people would intrinsically be an improvement.
typically blinkered comment that doesn't even admit the possibility of funding the service, employing more responders and attempting to fix the problems. Perhaps it could be funded with this new thing I thought up where it takes money from everyone based on their ability to pay, based on the assumption that everyone is better off in a society that has reliable emergency services.
From http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/oct/19/guardianwe...
"...tragic consequences last year when Sally Geeson, a student, was abducted and murdered in Cambridge. Sally, whose phone had run out of call credit, sent a series of texts asking for help to friends, apparently not realising that she could have made a 999 call for free."