Who is going to pay the extreme costs of frequent ocean and land rescues on the Garden Island? Disregard for safety is about to get very expensive!
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36 thoughts on “Hawaii’s Plans to Make Visitors Pay for Rescues Continue”
Who is going to pay the extreme costs of frequent ocean and land rescues on the Garden Island? Disregard for safety is about to get very expensive!
I completely agree with the people requiring rescue—especially from location’s marked not to enter and/or private property—should be responsible. It’s very expensive and often dangerous for rescuers. My husband & I have hiked in Kauai. Wanting to see more is understandable but the signs are there for a reason. You break the rules, you pay the price.
In theory this seems like a good idea, but in practice, I doubt it will work. How do you determine what is reckless? For example, what if an individual crashes his car and slides down an embankment, thus needing rescue. Does a situation like that fall under the rules of this bill? Who, exactly, determines if a person was negligent?
Not talking about that kind of accident. Talking about people hiking where they are not supposed to be, or trespassing on private property just so they can access a specific location. Ignoring warning signs, and climbing over guard rails to take a photo. Then, when they fall, slip, get lost, etc, they want to be rescued. There is absolutely no excuse for that behavior. Just like this time of the year, with the high surf. They refuse to listen to the warnings, and when something happens, right away they want to be rescued. Yes, they should have to responsibility for their actions!! Period
This is Councilmember Felicia Cowden. I didn’t vote No on the bill.
Hi Felicia.
Is there an error on the County Bill itself? If you read it (embedded below article content), it shows you as voting no.
Aloha.
Yep I Agree: = “If they are disregarding the warning signs and putting our responders at risk, no, they should pay. People must start taking responsibility for their actions and the risk they pose to our first responders. That is my biggest concern. Disregard for that has no excuse“If they are disregarding the warning signs and putting our responders at risk, no, they should pay. People must start taking responsibility for their actions and the risk they pose to our first responders. That is my biggest concern. Disregard for that has no excuse.”
100% agreed!! If these people cannot follow warnings and posted signs, then they definitely need to pay their rescue bill! And I know from experience, you can’t tell them anything. They think they know everything. No manners, no respect. Super entitled. Tired of this happening over and over. They should not come here if they don’t want to act better than that! The islands are being overrun with these selfish people.
I’m gals there doing this people need to be held accountable for there actions. It should not be placed on the tax payers.
Those funds could be used for other things That hawaii and Hawaiians need… not footing the bill for people’s neglect or peoples irresponsiblety….
Mahalo…..
My hope is that they follow this up by requiring people take responsibility for all their decisions instead of making the rest of us pay for them!
Oh Tom. I agree with you 200 percent. I am exhausted to always hearing the “Let’s get rid of this, because the general public does not have the intelligence or common sense to make decisions that will affect all of us” I am tired of paying for everyone else’s mistakes. Learn to take responsibility!
If this becomes law, injuries will be untreated, with some injuries lasting a lifetime. More will die, afraid to call for help when it’s really needed.
This should always be a public service; just as the fire department puts out fires, rescue should rescue without a charge.
A charge sounds good until you think of the long-term consequences.
Just don’t let the Council give tourists another reason to look elsewhere for their vacations. At some point, the military will find a reason to close one of its bases in Hawaii, and tourism will be even more important than it already is.
Is ambulance service free in Hawaii?
There is also a somewhat unfeeling phrase that also applies – stupidity should be painful.
We also as a general rule are not talking about the indigent here – we’re talking about people who have already paid (or put on credit) a minimum amount in the thousands of dollars just to get where they are.
The first few to get charged will hopefully serve as a lesson that will be learned by others in the future.
We don’t need more of these kinds of people on the island. They can’t even follow simple rules! SAR teams are putting their lives at risk for those people who have blatant disregard for rules, signs, etc.
Yes I’m in support of bill 2910, Financial responsibility should fall on those who make irresponsible decisions that put our first responders in avoidable situations. The insurance option sounds like a good idea as well.
Seems fair to me, if visitors and locals will be charged for these types of services as the article states.
As someone else mentioned, it seems as though it would make sense to offer rescue insurance to people that are getting permits to hike the Kalalau trail, for example.