I'm standing at a Karlsruhe U-Bahn platform looking at a red and blue panel with a green-lit SOS button in the middle. Next to it: "NOTRUF BITTE 3 SEK DRÜCKEN" embossed in raised letters, a row of braille dots beside it, and the English translation printed vertically down the edge.

Its design choices are also excellent. The three-second press filters out accidental bumps while staying fast enough to matter when every second counts. Braille next to the German text means it doesn't assume who's reading it. This is exactly what public safety infrastructure should look like — quick to use under stress, and built for more than one kind of user.

What pulled me in is the telehealth angle. Right now this button connects you to a person who has to figure out where you are and what's wrong, from scratch, over a speaker. I keep thinking about what happens if it's paired with NFC — tap your health insurance card against the panel, and EMS gets your location and your relevant medical information before they've even left the station. The emergency call already exists. The information relay around it hasn't caught up yet.