Lessons (not) learned from Kim tragedy
Admittedly, CNet has a tech focus, but it bothers me that they aren't even mentioning the biggest error that contributed to James Kim's death.
The real tragedy (and it's repeated over and over again), is that there are two basic rules you should always follow when you are lost and hoping for rescue. Maybe you had to be a Boy Scout to get these, but they ought to be part of everyone's education.
- Stay together.
- Stay in one place.
When James Kim went for help (and off the road, at that), he violated both of those rules. Any article about his death should emphasize those rules, because they are far more likely to save lives than a stray cell phone signal.
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There was a far more basic rule that the Kims broke: When traveling in bad weather, keep your head in the game. Use your common sense, follow the road signs, and don't let a hotel reservation or other artificial factor lure you into taking foolish risks.
Think about it a second. They left San Francisco for Seattle at Thanksgiving 2006. I live in Seattle, and last November was the wettest in this region's history. Everyone was talking about it. Parts of Seattle had flooded, and the weekend they left to go home there was a major storm forecast, and it was going to include snow.
They stopped at a chamber of commerce travelers info office for maps and directions to the Oregon coast. They were told not to take the back roads. They did it anyway, in spite of the weather, in spite of the forecast, in spite of four road signs warning of snow drifts, in spite of two separate warnings about winter driving on their map -- including one in red letters in a box pointing to the road they used.
They went up a mountain as snow fell around their car. Before they did it, they stopped at a gas station for directions but didn't refill the tank. They had two babies in the car, but didn't have enough food or water, or winter clothing. When they got into trouble on the road, they didn't turn back. They kept going.
Why? Because they had a non-cancellable, $250 a night hotel reservation.
Sorry, but the lesson isn't about cellphones or not leaving the car. The lesson is that adults have to act like adults and take responsibility for themselves and their children.
For a complete and objective account of what happened, see http://www.kimtragedy.info