New cellphone feature credited with saving Ont. driver's life

Hannah Ralph is recovering in the ICU following a crash that sent her to hospital with life-threatening injuries, and her family is crediting a new feature on her cellphone for a quick emergency response.

Hannah Ralph is recovering in the ICU following a crash that sent her to hospital with life-threatening injuries, and her family is crediting a new feature on her cellphone for a quick emergency response.

The 21-year-old Hamilton, Ont .native was driving in a rural area near Flesherton, a small community between Owen Sound and Shelburne, when she was involved in a serious collision on Aug. 5.

Her family says they were alerted to the incident by the crash detection system on Ralph’s iPhone.

"It's something that hopefully more people can get on their phones and make use of,” Ralph’s cousin Alison Jones said.

The feature comes with newer model phones.

Ralph’s family fears if she didn’t have it on her phone, she may not have been found by emergency responders right away.

“I believe it's automatic if you have an iPhone 14, but you do have to input your emergency contacts, and that was great because right away, Grace [Ralph's emergency contact] knew where Hannah was," Jones said.