An 82-year-old who was given an Apple Watch for Christmas, says it may have saved his life after a car hit him.
Setting up Fall Detection in the Apple Watch
Footage has now been released of the incident at a roundabout in Kidderminster, in the UK, on January 19, 2024. The stereotypical image of a British roundabout is a large and grassy island with four or more roads coming off it, but this one was a small, painted circle at an intersection.
While rare in the US, roundabouts are proven to be safer for both drivers and pedestrians, but in this case the circle was completely ignored. The driver cut a corner, not even driving in the correct lane, and smashed into 82-year-old Tony Jauncey, who was walking across the road.
According to local newspaper the Shropshire Star, Jauncey has survived the incident with a broken collar bone, cracked ribs and severe bruising. The paper has also published startling, not to say distressing, CCTV footage of the incident.
Jauncey's new Apple Watch, given to him as a present less than a month earlier, immediately rang the emergency services.
"I was walking back to my car which was parked in [British supermarket] Aldi and was crossing the road when I felt a thud," Jauncey told the newspaper. ""The next thing I saw was the bumper of a car in front of me... I was lying in the road, I was not able to move."
"The other thing I'd like to point out is my Apple Watch," he continued. "The watch detected a fall and asked if I wanted to call the emergency services."
"I could cancel the request by pressing a button on the side of the phone," he said, "but I left it and as a result the phone called [UK emergency number] 999."
Jauncey says that the driver stopped and came to help, as did three off-duty nurses who happened to be in the area. "There were lots of people who came over to help which really put me at ease," he said.
The fall and crash detection features of Apple Watch have now saved the lives of countless drivers. It was introduced with the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018.