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bajabass
Super Nomad
Posts: 2016
Registered: 10-4-2006
Location: La Paz,BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Want to fish!!!
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Great, go with the flow, and ENJOY! I am in La Mision almost every weekend, and there is no place I would rather be. Well, maybe 12-24hrs further
south!!
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Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajaguy
Dizzy.....get yourself a SPOT, put your friends on the account and they can track your progress. SPOT can also be used to send an emergency signal and
summon help.
I have used it in the US and in Baja and it works great!!!
No hay problema
http://www.findmespot.com/en/ |
Looks like SPOT has too many crying wolf too soon... FIrst responders call it "Yuppie 911"...
Front page 10/26/09 Union Tribune...
"Emergency beacons a bit too handy, rescuers say
Last month two men and their teenage sons tackled one of the world's most unforgiving summertime hikes: the Grand Canyon's parched and searing Royal
Arch Loop.
Along with bedrolls and freeze-dried food, the inexperienced backpackers carried a personal locator beacon just in case.
In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving rescues inside the steep
canyon walls.
What was that emergency? The water they had found to quench their thirst "tasted salty." If they had not been toting the device that works like OnStar
for hikers, "we would have never attempted this hike," one of them said after the third rescue crew forced them to board their chopper.
The use of such devices is a growing problem facing the men and women who risk their lives when they believe others are in danger of losing theirs.
Technology has made calling for help instantaneous even in the most remote places. Because would-be adventurers can send GPS coordinates to rescuers
with the touch of a button, some are exploring terrain they do not have the experience, knowledge or endurance to tackle.
Rescue offlcials are deciding whether to start keeping statistics on the problem, but the incidents have become so frequent that the head of
California's Search and Rescue operation has a name for the devices: Yuppie 911.
"Now you can go into the backcountry and take a risk you might not normally have taken," said Matt Scharper, who coordinates a rescue every day in a
state with wilderness so rugged even crashed planes can take decades to find. "With the Yuppie 911, you send a message to a satellhe and the
government pulls your butt out of something you shouldn't have been in in the first place." From the Sierra Nevada to the Cascades, Rockies and
beyond, hikers are arming themselves with increasingly affordable technology intended to get them out of lifethreatening situations.
While daring rescues are one result, very often the beacons go off unintentionally when the button is pushed in someone's backpack, or they are
activated unnecessarily, as in the case of a woman who was frightened by a thunderstorm.
'There's controversy over these devices in the first place because it removes the selfsufliciency that's required in the backcountry," Scharper said.
"But we are a society of services, and every service you need you can get by calling." The sheriffs office in San Bernardino County, the largest
county in the contiguous United States and home to part of the unforgiving Death Valley, hopes to reduce false alarms. So it is studying under what
circumstances hikers activate the devices.
"In the past, people who got in trouble self-rescued; they got on their hands and knees and crawled out," said John Amrhein, the county's emergency
coordinator. "We saw the increase in non-emergencies with cell phones: people called saying Tm cold and damp. Come get me out.' These take it to
another level." Personal locator beacons, which send distress signals to government satellites, became available in the early 1980s, but at a price
exceeding $1,200. They have been legal for the public to use since 2003, and in the past year the price has fallen to less than $100 for devices that
send alerts to a company, which then calls local law enforcement.
When rescue beacons tempt inexperienced hikers to attempt trails beyond their abilities, that can translate into unnecessary expense and a risk of
lives.
Inst year, the beacon for a hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail triggered accidentally in his backpack, sending helicopters scrambling. Recently, a
couple from New Brunswick, Canada, activated their beacon when they climbed a steep trail and could not get back down. A helicopter lowered them 200
feet to secure footing.
In September, a hiker from Placer County was panning for gold in New York Canyon when he became dehydrated and used his rescue beacon to call for
help.
With darkness setting in on the same day, Mono County sheriff's deputies asked the National Guard for a high-altitude helicopter and a hoist for a
treacherous rescue of two beacon-equipped hikers stranded at Convict Iske. The next day they hiked out on foot.
[Edited on 10-26-2009 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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bajalinda
Senior Nomad
Posts: 552
Registered: 6-7-2008
Location: Pacific Coast, BCS
Member Is Offline
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Here is an excerpt from our development description that has had positive feedback.
"Baja California Sur is a peaceful and safe state. Drug-related violence has dominated news headlines in recent years, yet Baja Sur lies away from the
drug transport routes where most violence takes place. A recent report by CIDA - Índice de Incidencia Delictiva y Violencia 2009 shows Baja Sur with
cartel-related deaths of 0 (national State average 5.7) and a Violence Index of 4.7, half the Mexican national average of 10.6 and below that of the
United States, whose national Violence Index is 5.62."
Google CIDA - Índice de Incidencia Delictiva y Violencia 2009. The report is in Spanish but summarized above for Baja Sur.
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Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajalinda
Here is an excerpt from our development description that has had positive feedback.
"Baja California Sur is a peaceful and safe state. Drug-related violence has dominated news headlines in recent years, yet Baja Sur lies away from the
drug transport routes where most violence takes place. A recent report by CIDA - Índice de Incidencia Delictiva y Violencia 2009 shows Baja Sur with
cartel-related deaths of 0 (national State average 5.7) and a Violence Index of 4.7, half the Mexican national average of 10.6 and below that of the
United States, whose national Violence Index is 5.62."
Google CIDA - Índice de Incidencia Delictiva y Violencia 2009. The report is in Spanish but summarized above for Baja Sur. |
I don't think anyone is comparing Baja Sur to border crime dangers and rates. That's why Baja Sur has it's own marketing commercials. For now they
aren't saying "skip Rosarito Beach and head down to the real Baja" , but they soon will...
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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dizzyspots
Senior Nomad
Posts: 603
Registered: 9-22-2008
Location: Mescal AZ
Member Is Offline
Mood: rather be on the beach at Gonzaga
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I have worked as a Paramedic for 30+ years and can relate intimately to the earlier post BUT it is NOT the fault of the beacon or the SPOT...the SPOT
comes with fairly clear guidelines on what is a "need for assistance" and what is a "911" emergency. The SPOT device is nearly impossible to activate
by mistake...the 911 button is recessed into the case and has to be held down for a 3-count...that being said...2 things come to mind...first is a
recent t-shirt siting..."ya cant fix stupid" and an old addage in my field..."Stupidity feeds my family"
Common sense should prevail, but often does not
mike
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arrowhead
Banned
Posts: 912
Registered: 5-5-2009
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajalinda
A recent report by CIDA - Índice de Incidencia Delictiva y Violencia 2009 shows Baja Sur with cartel-related deaths of 0 (national State average 5.7)
and a Violence Index of 4.7, half the Mexican national average of 10.6 and below that of the United States, whose national Violence Index is 5.62."
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You are making the mistake of comparing a specific geographic area (Baja Sur) to the entire US. But Americans don't live in the entire US. They also
live in specific geographic areas, and the areas that tourists come from tend to be more affluent. For example, the violent crime index for La Jolla
is 2.57; Mira Mesa 1.88; Rancho Bernardo 0.74 and the entire San Diego PD area is 4.40. They are all much lower than Baja Sur, especially when you
consider that the San Diego statistics include almost all the area between the I-8 and the border, which has already been ceded to Mexico.
So going from Rancho Bernardo and Baja Sur, the violent crime index is over 6 times greater.
...and then you have to talk about the property crime index. Dios mio.
No soy por ni contra apatía.
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
Member Is Offline
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Ceded to Mexico? And what of that embarrassing and abominable wall, with its accoutrements?
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