Man in 'Life or Death' 70mph Car Crash Credits Apple Watch for Saving Him

One Reddit user believes that his Apple Watch saved his life after a car crash.

The man from Indianapolis explained in a Reddit post over the weekend how he had hit a telephone pole after his tire blew out while driving.

Hitting the pole left him with his head on the steering wheel as smoke came out of the car, but a new safety feature on his watch meant that without even moving, authorities were notified about his accident and came to help.

"I was traveling a road I've known my whole life, a road I've driven on thousands upon thousands of times. It was late at night and there was no other traffic on the road," the driver, who wished to remain anonymous, told Newsweek.

Knowing the road like the back of his hand, he was driving when suddenly, there was a bang: "Boom. Face full of airbag and glass. I open my eyes to see my windshield caved in and my first instinct was to push the started button to turn the vehicle off."

As he sat barely conscious, he felt the haptic feedback from his new Apple Watch S8.

"[I] knew it was calling for help," he said. "I could hear it say 'a crash has occurred' and 'help is on the way.' I was actually able to speak with EMS through the watch."

Apple's Crash Detection feature was announced just a few months ago with the release of iOS16 and watchOS 8 and is enabled by default on supported devices.

Crash Detection senses when the user has been in a serious impact incident and the iPhone or Apple Watch will automatically display a warning screen. From here, the user can swipe the on-screen emergency call to activate and call emergency services or select cancel to turn it off.

If the user doesn't take any action after ten seconds, the device will automatically call emergency services and play a Siri message that will tell emergency services what has happened and communicate the exact location.

Thanks to the automated action taken by the watch, the driver was attended to by emergency services very quickly.

"I was awoken by somebody—EMS I assume—rubbing their knuckles in my chest to jostle me awake," said the driver. "It couldn't have been very long at all, if I had to guess I'd say within 10 minutes from when the watch made the call. Keep in mind if it weren't for the watch, how much longer would I have been there?"

The Redditor was left with an orbital fracture, three broken ribs, and a lot of cuts and scrapes.

"I've certainly been better, but I'm alive and will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, so there are some victories to take home from this for sure," he said.

"Apple's Crash Detection software is no joke and no gimmick. This life-saving tech can be had for $250 USD with the Apple Watch SE 2022. My watch is the Series 8, and I'd like to add that it survived the crash with not a single mark on it."

He wasn't the only Apple user to praise their watch for potentially life-saving action. In February, a man in California thanked the technology for initiating a 911 call after he fell from an electric bike.

Similarly, another man praised the Apple Watch in September for prompting him to get a check-up after it detected an unusual heart rate.

Some iPhone users, though, have complained that the Crash Detection software by Apple is too easily triggered. Earlier this month, a dispatch center in Ohio shared six calls with The Wall Street Journal from iPhone users who were on rides at an amusement park when the crash detection software was triggered.

But despite false alarms, the Redditor could not praise the detection software enough after his crash.

"Simply owning and wearing this watch, in my mind, could've been the difference in life or death," he said: "I don't fully credit the watch for saving my life obviously, my skilled healthcare professionals did that. But I do fully credit the watch in getting me that help quickly."

"Seconds count in these situations. Whoever conceptualized crash detection at Apple, I owe you a drink, but more importantly, a massive thank you. Thank you, Tim Cook and Apple itself for not only creating some amazing products but products that do what they advertise them to do."