Be Sure to I.C.E. Your Cell Phone!

by Anna Glendenning | More from this Blogger

26 Dec 2006 02:10 PM

Following the Terrorist Bus Bombings in London a movement to educate the public and start a new trend was made when Scotland Yard issued a request that citizens be sure to I.C.E. their cell phones. This movement started because in the aftermath of the bombings many dead and injured people were found in possession of cell phones. Authorities and emergency workers finding the cell phones believed they were good tools to use for contacting family or friends of unidentified victims.

The problem was that most of the found cell phones had more then just a few programmed phone numbers or logs of incoming and outgoing telephone calls. In some cases, it took calling ten or more of the phone numbers before authorities found someone who was "important" enough to be considered as an emergency contact person for the victim. However, the authorities did find a couple cell phones with interesting codes for some of the programmed phone numbers in the address menus. Apparently, some people used the letters I.C.E. to indicate which numbers were for emergency contact people.

I.C.E. stands for "In Case of Emergency." and it's simple enough to add these letters in front of, or behind the names and phone numbers of those people YOU would want to have contacted in case you were unable to communicate.

It only takes a few moments to ICE your cell phone and offer rescuers, hospitals or authorities with the most important people on your cell phone address books. Children or teenagers with cell phones should also ICE the numbers of parents and family members.

This trend and information hasn't really been well published or promoted in the United States, but I feel it should be. If we could all use this simple encoding on our cell phones then everyone will learn and understand it's useful meaning. If this is new information to you--then it is likely new information to your family and friends so be sure to tell them to ICE their cell phones too!

Photo Credits: Photo by Anna Glendenning.

Related Blogs:

• ICE - Emergency Contacts for Phones
• When Kids Must Fly Alone
• Is "Text Speak" The Wave Of The Future?

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cell-phone, Contact Person, In Case of Emergency, ice