A drunk driver has been arrested, thanks to his iPhone automatically calling for help after he had crashed his car. The 46-year-old New Zealand man crashed his car into a tree at 1:00 am. After detecting the crash, his iPhone 14 automatically called 111, the emergency line in New Zealand.
The driver spoke to the dispatcher, telling them that the police “should not worry about it,” says a Stuff report.
However, the man sounded intoxicated, so dispatchers sent a patrol to the scene. After police attempted to conduct a sobriety test, the man became unruly, pushing police and refusing to cooperate.
“His iPhone activated the emergency function and called police advising us of the crash,” Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond said.
The driver spoke to the 111 operator telling them that police “should not worry about it”.
But because the man sounded heavily intoxicated, a police patrol car was sent to the scene.
Officers found the suspected drink-driver, who was less than pleased to see them.
He allegedly pushed at police as they began drink-driving procedures, and refused a blood sample being taken.
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It is thought to be the first time an authentic crash has led to a suspected drink-driver being caught, Bond said.
He was charged with refusing a blood sample and assaulting police and will appear in court on February 16.
Crash Detection is a feature that uses hardware sensors and algorithms to detect if the user has been in a severe car accident. While useful in theory, the feature is prone to sending false reports.
When an iPhone detects a severe car crash it will display an alert and automatically initiate an emergency phone call after 20 seconds unless canceled.
“If you are unresponsive, your iPhone will play an audio message for emergency services, which informs them that you’ve been in a severe crash and gives them your latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates with an approximate search radius,” Apple says on its website.
