A young driver who totaled his pickup truck after hitting a cow was rescued by a smartphone app.
Personnel with the Clearmont Fire District and the Wyoming Highway Patrol were informed that a vehicle had been in a high-speed impact with airbags deployed near the Sheridan County line on Friday night.
They weren’t alerted by a traditional 911 call, but by an alert from Life360, a location-sharing app marketed as a way for people to “family-proof your family” with location tracking and emergency alerts.
According to Josh McKinley, fire chief of the Clearmont Fire District, that was certainly the case on Friday night. The app worked as advertised.
“We got called at 6:42 p.m. and located the driver about an hour and 20 minutes later,” he said. “It may have taken us a while to get there, but it did get us there.”
While the driver wasn't seriously hurt and was found through the app, the cow wasn't as fortunate and died at the scene, McKinley said.
App Alert
According to McKinley, first responders were paged about “a vehicle accident with airbag deployment” at an unknown location along U.S. Highway 14-16. The information was “very limited” but enough to work with.
“I'm not sure if the individual involved in the crash was able to call 911, or if the parents were notified through the Life360 app,” he said. “When I spoke with the driver’s mother, she said (the app) had notified her that there was a possible crash, and when they tried contacting the individual, they were unable to reach him.”
First responders started searching ditches and ravines near Arvada, near the Sheridan County line, where the app had set a GPS marker. They eventually narrowed their search to Upper Powder River Road and methodically drove down the road, looking for the vehicle and the driver.
Eventually, they found both. The driver had hit a black cow standing in the middle of the dark road.
The impact totaled the Ford Ranger, sending it off the road and into a field. Hitting a cow with a vehicle can be fatal for the driver, but thankfully, he was wearing his seat belt and the vehicle’s airbags successfully deployed.
“The vehicle was totaled, but it didn’t roll and stayed on all four wheels,” McKinley said.
The driver walked away from the accident and was treated for minor injuries at the scene and taken home to his parents.
Smarter Phones
McKinley credited the Life360 app for alerting the driver’s parents and giving first responders enough information to locate the scene of the accident.
One of the app’s selling points is sensing collisions over 25 mph and sending that information to any emergency contacts.
The app also sends an emergency dispatch to the vehicle’s location, using the built-in location sharing.
McKinley said service can be “pretty hit and miss” along Upper Powder River Road. In this scenario, the app relayed vital information to the driver’s parents, whereas placing a traditional 911 call might have been difficult.
Smartphones are increasingly being used by first responders and law enforcement officers to locate and assist with a variety of incidents.
McKinley said they’ve located smartphones that have fallen off cars or out of windows at high speeds because they register the impact.
McKinley can personally attest to the reliability and peace of mind that the Life360 app provides. He’s entrusted the app with the safety of his own family.
“My wife travels a lot for work,” he said. “If she were to break down, I would have an idea where she's at, and if I go out in the middle of the night, she knows where I’m at. We've never had it to use it in an accident, thank goodness, but it’s nice knowing where everyone is.”
Many smartphone users might have that level of added protection already. McKinley believes newer iPhone models have similar sensors installed that can also send an emergency dispatch in the event of an accident.
Still, there’s no denying the effectiveness of the Life360 app in this Wyoming scenario. It’s not perfect, but it’s another tool for effective and timely responses in serious situations.
“This was a first for us with the Life360 app, but the technology is there,” McKinley said. “There's always room for improvement, but it did get us there, so we can't complain too much.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
