Yesterday, my fiance and I were driving from Des Moines to Ames (about 25 miles north) so I could pick up my new springs. On our way up, we saw a van loose control in the opposite lane and roll a couple of times. Instantly, I grab my cell phone and dial 911. It rings about 10 times before someone picks up. The guy on the line says "911, please hold" and puts me on hold. I was like WTF, so I hang up and try 2 more times. Both times, I got the annoying tones and a message saying all lines were busy, please call again later. By this time, several cars had pulled over to help, so I didn't try calling anymore.

Now say I had just been shot or someone was stealing my car or another emergency...please hold?!?!? It was scary enough seeing that happen right in front of me, but not being able to get ahold of 911 to call for help. That is terrible. I hope I am never in an emergency like that and need immediate assistance and get put on hold.

 

That is rediculous! I've always had a feeling that it would reach a point in our lives that there would be so many people calling 911 that not enough people would be available to answer.

I hope those people in the van ended up being ok. And for everyone else out there, know that unfortunately, the ambulance isn't going to be there as fast as you think because in this world, there are a million other emergencies going on at the same time.

Hopefully, this problem can be fixed, or at least controlled.

 

On our way home, traffic was nearly stopped for 2 miles. We figured they had closed a lane so traffic was bottlenecked. Nope, traffic was still two lanes, but everyone was slowing down to gawk at the accident.

When we went by, we saw people standing around talking to the cops that had arrived. There was no ambulance there and the guy was just standing there, presumably telling the cops exactly what happened. I think everyone that was in the van was ok. The van was pretty much destroyed though.