Dangerous and sometimes illegal behavior can be life-threatening. Who pays for rescues is back in the news.
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44 thoughts on “Hiker Rescue Reimbursement Is Back As Hawaii Visitor Drives Off Cliff”
Dangerous and sometimes illegal behavior can be life-threatening. Who pays for rescues is back in the news.
I just bought a piece of land at Highway 11 in Ocean View, HI, what should I do with it?
Whether to charge for rescues, I have mixed emotions. If it’s egregious, and clearly the visitor ignored keep out or safety signs and got into trouble, yes, they should be charged. But, if it was just a normal accident or lost situation, do not charge. Here in southern CA (at least in some parts), they will not charge for rescues in any circumstances for the very reason that, they don’t want people not calling for a rescue when needed, fearing the cost. Failure to call for a rescue could lead to death.
Maybe they should think about that before they do stupid things!! We’re not talking about regular traffic accidents, or random incidents. This is about people completely ignoring signs, warnings, etc,!!! Those people need to pay for their stupidity and ignorance. I guess they no more common sense @ po ting!!!
Here in Arizona, we have the “Stupid Motorist Law”. If one tried to drive through a flooded road or creek and gets stuck. They are fined as well as I believe charged for the rescue.
There are too many people out there with absolutely no common sense. When they eventually need to be rescued because of their stupidity, they need to pay the cost to be rescued. Why should tax payers foot the bill? Hawaii will make money with all the tourists that go there. When people go on vacation, they forget to pack their common sense.
I find it appalling that visitors can be charged for rescues in Hawaii don’t they charge enough get taxes, etc to tourists to take care of that expense? I guess Las Vegas should start charging Hawaiian tourists for misteps as well?
If the rescue is due to illegal act-charge them! Who pays anyone for doing illegal things?Why is this an issue? It should be an immediate bill to the offender.(notice I did not say victim. Offenders choose to do things-victims it happens without their choice)
As for the true victims of circumstances. Everyone knows there is a cost to things, so, there should be some way to calculate “a cost” and means to pay. No money-bill for rescue is 500 dollars-pay what you can and raise donations to cover it. there are go funds me’s all the time. just a thought
I like the 1st part of your comment, Ann (offender vs victim), but I wouldn’t be part of the fund me donations (I did donate to fire victims instead).
Can’t fix stupid !! Nuff said! Yeah, they definitely should pay!! Oh,and stay out of Hawaii!!
Waaaay ahead of you there sport. You’ve made the message very clear.
100 percent. Hold the tourist/individual responsible! In every avenue in life, people are not having to pay for their poor choices. If we don’t start holding individuals responsible for whatever they have chosen to do illegally at any age, venue, political crap, it will just keep reoccuring!
Hawaii certainly has issues that do not affect every mainland state. With that being said, many states suffer tourism and the effects of visitors. The small mountain towns of Colorado suffer much of the same issues. When people visit our state and attempt to hike a mountain that they are unprepared for, whether permitted or not, our emergency service teams rescue them. Saving a life is more valuable than the money that is lost. People who fear the expense of a rescue will often make a bad choice and suffer.
This was a tourist driving at 3:30am! Unless they wanted to drive to Haleakala to see the sunrise, what were they even doing on a road like that at 3:30am?
Earlier I mentioned the prospect of having a rando bureaucrat deciding what rescues get charged for or not based on what he or she thinks is too dangerous or risky. Your statement encapsulated that fear gloriously. If the road is open and safe at 10:00 PM, what makes it suddenly unsafe at 3:30 AM? It’s dark at both of those times. One might argue that it’s actually safer at 3:30 AM since there is less traffic on the road. Emergency services are already bought and paid for. Charging people excess is simply wrong.
I recently visited Hawaii for a month. Driving with the many tourists on the road was challenging. I fail to understand why visitors feel entitled to drive over the posted limits and rudely negotiate traffic. The tourist who drove off the cliff should look not only reimburse the state for the rescue but should additionally pay for the environmental remediation. If possible the right to drive should be suspended until a drivers safety program was completed. Tourists are not an entitled class.
Place this on a state wide ballot initiative and have the people vote on this. The people I’m sure will help pass this into law.