Inadvertent cell phone calls are a costly inconvenience for 911 emergency responders.

A recent report on the number of unintentional 911 emergency calls made from cell phones provides additional evidence for why cell phone users should share the cost of providing this important service.

Users of land-based telephone lines already pay a special assessment on their telephone bills to help support the cost of the 911 emergency service. That fee is not assessed on cell phone users.

And yet, a high percentage of 911 calls — 40 percent of the Douglas County calls last year– come from cell phones. The calls probably are useful because people with cell phones often can alert authorities to various emergency situations more quickly than people who have to find a land-based phone line.

However, statistics released this week in Wichita, also show that unintentional 911 calls from cell phones are increasing and placing an undue burden on the people responding to those calls. The Sedgwick County 911 director said the county averaged 60 inadvertent 911 cell phone calls a day in November. Nationwide, the Federal Communication Commission estimates up to 70 percent of all 911 cell phone calls are unintentional.

There apparently are a couple of reasons for the large number. Many cell phones are equipped with a feature that automatically dials 911 when a key — usually 1 or 9 — is held down for a few seconds. Some cell-phone users also program in 911 on their speed dial system. That makes it far easier for the number to be dialed accidentally when an open-faced phone is brushed against another surface.

For cell phone users, this is perhaps a minor inconvenience, but for the people responsible for responding to the calls it is a huge waste of time and resources. The Wichita official explained that her staff must call the cell phone to verify the emergency. If there is no answer, they must call the cell phone company, obtain the customer’s home address and either call the home number or send an officer to investigate. That’s a lot of time and expense to put in on 60 calls a day just to have someone say, “Oh, never mind.”

It may be impossible to pass laws that would reduce inadvertent calls, but it seems only right that cell phone users should share in the cost of providing 911 service. It also seems fair, however, for the state to require the implementation of enhanced-911 service which would give 911 operators the ability to trace the location of cell phone calls in the same manner they now can trace land-line calls.

Proposals that would resolve these cell phone 911 issues have failed to progress through the Kansas Legislature for the last several years. Perhaps this is the year lawmakers can move the measure forward.