CLARK COUNTY — Your phone can call 911 for you if you’ve been in an accident and are too injured to call for help yourself.
This happened in the Miami Valley last week during a crash on Interstate 70 in Clark County on Thursday.
The crash happened near State Route 4 shortly after 5 p.m. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said a semi went off the right side of the road and hit another semi parked on the shoulder. Both drivers were seriously injured.
Investigators said several people called 911, but one of those calls came from one of the semi drivers themselves, but they were too injured to talk.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
- 72-year-old man killed in motorcycle crash on I-70 identified
- Crews to close stretch of I-75 for emergency bridge repairs
- Do you recognize him? Police looking for man who stole cash from a wallet at Raising Cane’s
When you get into a crash, everything in your vehicle goes flying. If you’re seriously hurt, you may not be able to reach your phone, or you may be unconscious.
That’s when the Emergency SOS system on your phone kicks in.
The Emergency SOS feature called 911, saying, “The emergency location is latitude 39.8868, longitude -83.9416 with an estimated search radius of 3 meters.”
That information came from one of the semi drivers’ phone, telling dispatchers where exactly they were located and what happened.
“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe crash and is not responding to their phone. The emergency location is…”
Troopers told News Center 7 that the driver was 29-year-old Saida Usmonova. She parked her semi on the shoulder of I-70 when another semi, driven by 45-year-old Harminder Singh, hit her.
OSP said both drivers were rushed to a local hospital. Sgt. Tyler Ross said the tool on your phone can be the difference between life and death.
“You’ve got to think in the middle of the night on a rural roadway, if there’s a single vehicle that goes off the road into the woods, it goes into a body of water, if that person is unconscious or they’re trapped in the vehicle,” Ross said.
They won’t be able to call for help.
“We’ve unfortunately had it where we’ve come up on a crash, it’s a day old, and it’s a fatal crash. You know, that’s anyone’s worst nightmare,” Ross said. “We have to take every precaution that we can, every safety measure that we can. If that’s a tool that you can put in your tool belt to be safe, why not do it?”
Ross said both semi drivers are expected to recover. But because of Usmonova’s injuries, troopers still haven’t been able to ask her why she parked on the shoulder.
As for Singh, OSP said it appears he is the driver at fault. Once the investigation is finished, they will know what he will be cited for.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]