UK authorities are advising festival attendees to leave their smartwatches behind, as crowded areas like mosh pits have led to an increase in emergency calls.
The Festival at Donington Park, Leicestershire, England, scheduled for June 13th to 15th promises an incredible lineup of events.
At the forefront of the rock festival are Green Day, Sleep Token, and iconic nu metal band Korn. However, numerous other powerful performers will also take the stage, including Poppy, Bullet for My Valentine, Meshuggah, Currents, and Opeth.
While I’m all hyped up about grooving to Korn’s tunes that could ignite a wild mosh pit, I’d be wise not to don my smart watch, as the cops are recommending we fans steer clear of it for our own safety.
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Smart watches mistake mosh pits for collisions and call for help
Over a weekend, as reported by the Leicestershire Police, there was an increase of nearly 700 additional emergency calls, similar to 911 in the US.
In their explanation on Facebook, they stated that the technology mistakenly thought individuals at concerts (specifically those in crowded areas like mosh pits) were involved in accidents, which resulted in 999 automatic call disconnections and contacts.
At concerts for metal and rock genres, it’s quite typical to find mosh pits where people collide with one another while the music pulses. On occasion, performers might encourage spectators to divide into two teams and rush towards each other in what’s famously called a “Wall of Death.
Every call needed to be evaluated meticulously, involving three unsuccessful outgoing calls to verify safety, which unfortunately diverted our contact agents from responding to genuine emergencies.
2023’s version of the download festival featured Metallica, Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot, Disturbed, and Evanescence among several other notable acts.
Given this, it seems logical that the police wouldn’t want another reoccurrence of past issues, yet the festival hasn’t explicitly banned smartwatches from being brought to the event, since they are not mentioned in the list of prohibited items for attendees.
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2025-06-13 21:18