[Cycle Happy]

At 3pm on 23/04/2023 the emergency alert system is going to be tested (https://www.gov.uk/alerts). So at the exact same time, virtually all drivers are going to distracted. To me, this is an avoidable risk by not being on the road on my bike or in a car at this time.

I just wanted to post to highlight this pre planned (and consequently somewhat avoidable) risk on the off chance it makes the difference between someone being injured or not.

Topic

[grumpus]

As it turned out “at the

As it turned out “at the exact same time” was wishful thinking – my phone didn’t get the alert until Tuesday morning.

[Simon E]

Sriracha wrote:

Sriracha wrote:

All phones will sound, even if on silent, that’s kind-of the point of an emergency alarm.

I have turned off the 2 settings on my Mum’ iphone so we are not disturbed/annoyed. Settings > Notifications and scroll to the bottom and slide both to off. I cannot foresee a scenario where she would benefit from getting a genuine alert and I don’t own a mobile phone.

[Sriracha]

All phones will sound, even
All phones will sound, even if on silent, that’s kind-of the point of an emergency alarm.

To prevent it your phone either needs to be powered off, or you need to change the default emergency alarm settings. Or you just need an ancient phone that lacks the feature.

Anyway, most of them will be on their phones already and/or will be well accustomed to the phone suddenly ringing whilst they are driving- how else do they know when to pick up all those calls?

[Cycle Happy]

I was semi careful with my
I was semi careful with my wording but I do think that distraction will be caused to otherwise responsible drivers too (I’ve heard rumours that there are some out there) as their phone will suddenly make a 10 second alarm they haven’t heard before. If that’s coming from their glovebox where they have stowed their phone, it’s still going to be a distraction. Hopefully I’m paranoid and we won’t be reading next week about all the cyclists and pedestrians mowed down. ?

[Cycle Happy]

The only thing is, unless I’m
The only thing is, unless I’m mistaken, some phones will sound even if on silent. That will be a distraction to someone who has their phone on silent and out of reach. So it won’t just be the usual selfish gits we are contending with, it will be otherwise decent people too. All at the same time. The onus is 100% on drivers but I just felt it was a very specific point in time that, for me, I can avoid being on a road at a potentially very high risk time.

[ShutTheFrontDawes]

The only drivers that won’t
The only drivers that won’t be distracted are the responsible ones.

So I think it’s true to say that ‘virtually all’ drivers will be distracted.

[Awavey]

There was an article,
There was an article, probably in the Express, that it was irresponsible to run this test because drivers would be distracted by it all at the same time and it would cause crashes.

Not that i will be driving anyway or be distracted by it but Fwiw I’ve disabled it on my phone just because I can’t be bothered getting it.

[Simon E]

“at the exact same time,

“at the exact same time, virtually all drivers are going to distracted”

If all the selfish bar stewards behaved responsibly and obeyed the law then it simply wouldn’t happen – the stupid phone would be off/silent/airplane and safely stowed away.

A good number of them will likely be stationary in a queue at lights, a signal-controlled roundabout or getting in / out of an out-of-town retail park. Because that’s how lots of people choose to spend their Sunday afternoons. Losers.

[Author]

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