Many of us motorcyclists have recently begun wearing, or at least contemplating, devices to help us in the event of an emergency. Recently, Apple smart devices have begun to detect collisions.

How They Work

The watches have an accelerometer and a gyroscope built into them. The devices combine information from these two sensors to determine you’ve had a mishap. The feature was first introduced around 2018, but more recently, they’ve been fine-tuned to detect things like crashes in traffic.

Motorcyclist in Utah Rescued

Over this past weekend, a motorcyclist in Washington County, Utah reaped the benefits of his own smartwatch. It detected when herode his bike off a cliff. The reporting doesn’t specify if he was wearing an Apple watch or some other brand. No doubt, the sudden collision followed by a lack of movement or response to its alarms, triggered the watch to alert the local authorities.

Emergency services located the rider, life-flighted him out of the area, and expect him to recover.

Do You Have Service?

Now, before you rush out to grab the latest version of a crash-detecting internet device, make sure you know how it functions. From Apple’s support page:

If you’re in a severe car crash and unresponsive in a location without a cellular or Wi-Fi connection, iPhone will attempt to contact emergency services usingEmergency SOS via satellite, where available.”

See Apple’s explanation forEmergency Services satellite availability here. Spoiler: only the iPhone 14 and 14Pro running iOS 16.1 or later have this functionality. Your phone must be on and connected to your watch.

Buried Dispatchers

Also keep in mind the situation emergency call center dispatchers found themselves in, in some popular ski regions, recently. Summit County’s emergency services in Frisco Colorado wasflooded with over 185 automated smartwatch emergency callsin a single week. Apparently area skiers were having altogether too much fun. Their enthusiasm confused their watches.

Too Much Fun

What’s the difference between a fun day on the slopes and a potentially deadly crash? To Apple watches, apparently exactly nothing. Skiing isn’t the only activity that confuses these devices. Other high-impact sports and activities can and do set off automated emergency calls.

So, yes, you should certainly research all the new gizmos that will protect or rescue you in the event of an unplanned off-road excursion. But keep in mind that nothing is a panacea. Your crash notifications can be lost in a sea of happy skiers.