Midsummer Eve is one of the most intense days of the year for SOS Alarm. However, this year it has been quieter than expected.
During Friday night, up until midnight, SOS Alarm received around 11,500 calls.
It was roughly like a normal Friday or Saturday evening, says Staffan Ekengren, communications chief at SOS Alarm.
The small hours' figures are not yet fully compiled.
There was a bit of a surge between midnight and 02. But not as much as we thought.
There have been traditional Midsummer calls: intoxication, fights, traffic accidents mainly during the day, and near-drowning incidents. The overall feeling is that it has still been somewhat quieter than we are used to – despite good weather, says Ekengren.
Problems with Misdialed Calls
But the Midsummer weekend is not over yet.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is a big traffic day. The Midsummer weekend is not over – even though Midsummer Eve is over, says Ekengren.
Last Midsummer Eve, from 05–05, 16,375 calls were made to SOS Alarm. That was over 50 per cent more calls than an average day in 2023.
A disruption for SOS Alarm is the many misdialed calls that fill up the phone queue – on average, a third of all calls. This includes non-urgent medical calls, irrelevant calls about, for example, passport applications or prank calls.
Annoying Gadgets
A new problem in recent years is so-called smart watches or phones that incorrectly trigger alarm calls when someone may have dropped the device on the ground.
We are not too fond of such gadgets, as almost all of those calls are false, says Staffan Ekengren.
The proportion of misdialed calls does not usually increase during the chaotic holidays.
Midsummer does not stand out when it comes to misdialed calls. But when we have extremely high call pressure, it becomes even more important not to make unnecessary calls.
