Topic: CRADAR - Crash detection app

[flybox1]

CRADAR detects a fall and sends a text message to an emergency contact.
CRADAR (CRAsh Detection And Response) is a man-down application that uses the accelerometer to detect a fall and sends a text message alert to a specified emergency contact, using the GPS to include a link to a map with your exact location. Great for cyclists, hikers, bikers, and anyone traveling alone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=actionxl.mandown&hl=en

roads through the farmland of Snohomish, WA are lined with deep ditches, maybe 8'-10' deep and just as wide.  i loved carving these windy roads on my 350F.  in the summer they are lined with overgrowth. cant typically see the bottom, or the water thats down there.  they collect runoff, and flood water and channel it away from corn/hay fields.  a local biker, on his way home one evening 2 summers ago, went missing.  these windy roads were his typical route home.  they found him, many, many days later.  something like this might have helped. 

[Bob Wessner]

What is its response if you accidently drop your phone

[flybox1]

you can calibrate it, or use one of 6-7 sensitivity settings, so drops wont send a message.
AND...
there is an "I'm OK' icon you need to press if its an accidental activation.
You designate a period of time. 30 secs, up to 5 min, which also starts an audible, and vibration alert.  If you do not tap the I'm OK icon on the screen, the message is sent.

[Bob Wessner]

Ñice concept, but it seems it will take some finagling to get the right level of sensitivity. I tried several and they seemed to be too sensitive or not sensitive enough. More playing required. 

[singedebile]

I cant believe an app like that is legal, I heard a story on NPR about how home alarm systems cost police departments massive massive amounts their budget.

Here is a random article about the Toronto Police Dept.
http://www.realpolice.net/forums/police-officer-headlines-76/63123-false-home-alarms-cost-millions-police-budget.html

and here is one from Seattle
http://www.seattle.gov/police/programs/Alarms/Default.htm

so sure maybe that .1% chance when you fall, no one else is there, your incapacitated, your phone has reception, and is intact it will likely save your life. But the other 99.9% of the time...  when a police car is dispatched to find you, and later shows up late to a real emergency because of you...

sorry I know you brought this up as a way of sharing something you thought may be helpful to others, your intentions are good but these automated alarm call systems cost taxpayers millions and when only 2% (for example in Seattle) of the calls are real, its a horrible waste of very limited resources. This would only compound the problem.

[brandEn]

What about the lady that was missing for 8 days. Hanging upside down by her seatbelt on a major State highway!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-27-3577673066_x.htm

[Bob Wessner]

No matter how I adjusted the sensitively., it was problematic. Seemed like it would be very difficult to determine where you would carry it and still have function correctly. I gave up for a while and spent the days cleaning siding  . No phone use all day. When I quit, my phone had switcched off due to the battery being critically low. This never happens andI had disabled GPS and the application was not set to monitor. The only thing changed on my phone installing CRADAR. Got rid of it a it recharged. Phone/battery are fine now.

[Terry in Australia]

What about an EPirb personal locator beacon? (PLB) You could rig it up so that it activates once you fall off your bike, and with a flashing strobe light, even in a ditch, the emergency services would be able to find you? Cheers, Terry.

http://www.e-marineworld.com.au/store/Products_Detail.php?ProductID=1739

[scunny]

I just want trainer wheels on my pub bike. 

[Elan]

I just want trainer wheels on my pub bike. 

isn't that what can-am's are for?

[Terry in Australia]

Those Can-Ams can be tricky buggers to ride, a "Friend of a Friend" died on one recently, he was an experienced rider in his 50's but hadn't owned the Can-Am long, and from what I can gather, they're not for the inexperienced. Here's a link I found, that talks about it.

http://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13946

[flybox1]

I cant believe an app like that is legal, I heard a story on NPR about how home alarm systems cost police departments massive massive amounts their budget.

and here is one from Seattle
http://www.seattle.gov/police/programs/Alarms/Default.htm

so sure maybe that .1% chance when you fall, no one else is there, your incapacitated, your phone has reception, and is intact it will likely save your life. But the other 99.9% of the time...  when a police car is dispatched to find you, and later shows up late to a real emergency because of you...

sorry I know you brought this up as a way of sharing something you thought may be helpful to others, your intentions are good but these automated alarm call systems cost taxpayers millions and when only 2% (for example in Seattle) of the calls are real, its a horrible waste of very limited resources. This would only compound the problem.

Wrong.
Just so you know i'm not speaking out my @$$, i'd like to state that I am the Western Wa Alarm Response Manager for ADT Security Services. I deal with alarm ordinances directly, daily, and am particularly aware of the Seattle Alarm Ordinance because I developed ADT's SOP to deal with it.  I'm also on an advisory board at ADT which helps Jurisdictions across the country draft and administer alarm ordinances.

CRADAR is not an automated 911 dispatch program.  Clearly you did not read its full intent.  Its not designed to work with 911 dispatch centers.  They dont accept automated calls or texts.  CRADAR informs someone on your contact list that you crashed, and where you are located.  It is up to you, and them, to determine how to handle the message, if and when a message comes in. 
That, costs taxpayers nothing.

[singedebile]

sorry about that, you are right I did not read the whole article. If the sensitivity issue someone else mentioned (or maybe its tied to the quality of accelerometers specific to each phone), then the app would in fact be nice to have. Though I have a windows phone so I can not try it myself.