When you RV, learning tips that actually work can mean the difference between a smooth excursion and a devastating experience.
Read on to discover the advice one RVer recently shared with me. He and his wife were involved in an accident while RVing. Learn how one simple tip, put into practice, made all the difference.
Lifeline
Did you know that your phone can be a lifeline? It’s true! Modern cell phones can be programmed to call emergency services automatically after a crash. They can also share your location with responders and instantly pass medical details and emergency contacts to first responders. This is especially important if you can’t speak for yourself.
iPhone emergency features
On iPhone models that support Crash Detection, the phone can detect a severe crash and start the emergency process for you. Pairing Crash Detection with completed Medical ID and Emergency SOS settings makes that feature especially useful.
If your device detects a crash or you trigger Emergency SOS, your phone will attempt to contact local emergency services. It will also notify the emergency contacts you’ve listed. Your Medical ID can be accessed by responders even from the lock screen so they can see allergies, medications, and key medical info.
How to set it up (iPhone)
Here’s how to add emergency contacts and medical info on an iPhone:
- Open the Health app and tap your profile picture to get to Medical ID.
- Choose Edit and fill in any medical conditions, allergies, and blood type.
- Add Emergency Contacts by tapping Add Emergency Contact. Choose people from your address book. Be sure to label their relationship.
- Check Settings, then Emergency SOS to confirm your preferred trigger method (hold side button plus a volume button, or the rapid press option).
- Confirm that Call After Severe Crash is enabled if you want automatic calling after Crash Detection.
Note: Practice the trigger motion once or twice to avoid accidental presses later.
How to add emergency contacts (Android)
Here’s how to set up the emergency contact information on an Android phone:
- Open your phone’s Personal Safety app or search Settings for Emergency SOS or safety and emergency.
- In the Personal Safety setup you can choose emergency contacts, allow the phone to share your location during an emergency, and turn on assisted calling where available.
- Some Android vendors (e.g., Pixel phones) also have crash detection and auto-call behavior you can enable and test.
- Follow the on-screen setup prompts so your phone has permission to use location and to send updates to contacts.
An alternative
If you are unable to set up the emergency notification feature on your cell phone, ask an expert for assistance. Visit your local phone carrier’s place of business, explain what you want to do, and let them help.
The RVers?
As for the RVers who were in the accident? Emergency personnel were on the scene before either RVer located their phones in the accident aftermath. They are convinced that the phone’s emergency setting made all the difference!
How about you?
Have you received important advice from other RVers? Share that road-tested advice in the comments that follow. Thanks!
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RVT1252
Thanks Gail. I had no idea a cell fone could do that! My dash camera has that freeze feature or crash stop – never tho’t about the fone tho.
Thank you, Gail. I went thru your Android instructions and was able to enable several things there! I didn’t know this existed!
Gail, Thank you. I had no idea. Now I have it all set up and moving on to my husband’s.