{"id":19284,"date":"2013-02-13T00:02:43","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T10:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/?p=19284"},"modified":"2013-02-12T14:30:29","modified_gmt":"2013-02-13T00:30:29","slug":"who-pays-when-rescues-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekpro\/who-pays-when-rescues-required\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Pays When Rescue\u2019s Required?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A Coast Guard diver jumps in to save a swimmer in trouble far off Barbers Point | USCG photo<\/p><\/div>\n

News item: Lost hikers keep Oahu rescue crews busy.<\/I><\/p>\n

Should we start charging people the cost of rescue when they undertake a risky recreational activity without adequate equipment or orientation or do something where authorities have posted risk warnings or something that carries great likelihood of injury or death?<\/p>\n

I bring this up because of the frequent rescue of hikers or people doing atsea recreational activities. The rescues mostly involve helicopter evacuation and specialists who must take risky chances.<\/p>\n

Should these rescues be freebies? Is free rescue one of our inalienable rights?<\/p>\n

I raise this issue because of a recent visit to Talkeetna, Alaska, the jumping-off point for climbers aiming to summit the 20,230-foot mountain known as Mount McKinley, or Denali. It’s a not-terribly-difficult but very cold mountain. So the National Park Service (NPS) maintains a ranger station to brief climbers and assess the gear they are bringing and their tolerance for high altitude without oxygen (tanks are not permitted for environmental reasons).<\/p>\n

But the NPS has no authority to prohibit anyone from climbing. So it maintains climbing-season stations at the base camp and at two places along the approach to the summit. Rangers do 30-day stints there.<\/p>\n

If you get altitude sickness or get hurt they will get you down. No charge. If you die they will recover your body and have it shipped home – again, no charge. The bill goes to the taxpayers.<\/p>\n

I was a longtime skydiver. But would I have been entitled to a free rescue if I had done some nutty calculations and landed myself at sea rather than at the drop zone?<\/p>\n

I was a longtime scuba diver. But should I have been entitled to free treatment in a bends chamber if I carelessly overstayed my underwater time?<\/p>\n

It would not be difficult to convene a volunteer citizen panel that could rule on unwarranted riskiness or adventure before giving thumbs up or down on a rescue fee. The cost of rescue would then become one of the considerations in undertaking risky recreational activities.<\/p>\n

Doesn’t this make sense? Is there anything here that’s not good public policy?<\/p>\n

\n

One of the road activities our police seldom seem to enforce (and therefore it’s becoming more common) is two people riding on a moped.<\/p>\n

It’s illegal.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it’s very dangerous. Mopeds with two are very unstable and unbalanced.<\/p>\n

You generally see tourists, a male and a female, the latter perilously hanging on and seated on the back-of-seat plate rated for only seven pounds.<\/p>\n

Obviously some moped rental outfits are turning a blind eye to this. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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