You are right, don't know anything about OnStar, besides the radio commercials I hear, and don't use any of the GPS tools out there, and don't believe so don't own a cell phone, so I would be the first to admit, may be that I am technologically challenged.
Don't know if this will work or not, but also with MapQuest (and maybe not a real good indicator) and the coordinates, the location given appears to turn up locations from west of Berlin to in the ocean. Now, if this is the best the coordinates could give for a location (and heard something about seconds not given ?) then the search area is very large. Sounds like maybe the rangers just got a general area, since there are no "intersections or street names" there may have led to some confusion of the where abouts, other than the only thing OnSTar apparently stated was Assateague Island, but still leaves a vast search area, and all I was trying to state was that, in vehicle allowed areas alone, a search could take upwards of 6 hours or more.
That said, maybe the driver had bad judgement, and maybe, in assuming the emergency was in an area where vehicle access was permitted, was bad judgement by the rangers (not that I feel this should be construed as not doing their jobs, or cause for a lawsuit against them), but feel if one was familiar with Assateaque Island (and there is the State Park Area (about 680 acres, and some in the water, but less than 5% of the portion of Assateague situated in the state of Maryland) and Federal Area, (plus the Virginia portion, where no vehicles are allowed)), one may see searching allowed areas could take quite some time, and searching the entire Park complex would indeed be time consuming and challeging since there are many places, some in wooded areas others in no vehicles permitted area that may take a full day or more to search every place a vehicle might have travelled. These facts might show, how, even though the rangers were the last components, may have failed them. Also like stated, they have searched the Island before for vehicles in emergency situations, and found nothing, because the "emergency" was rectified, but the owner of vehicle felt no need to call a let those looking, trying to help, know all was okay. So, they searched the permitted areas, and maybe felt, well, another one got itself out of trouble, so at the time, given past experiences, felt all was okay, only to find out, like all of us, the vehicle did not make it's way out.
Worst thing of the entire situation, the entire truth may never be known, and thus, perfect corrective action plans, from OnStar, Sherrifs and Rangers will never be able to be structured and therefore implemented, and best case scenerio, is what minor changes, given the limited details to the facts, may improve emergency response, but the best plan is to have one know the rules, be aware of conditions, and they can change dramtically, and quickly, and be cautious and aware that for the most Assateague is a wilderness area, maybe not huge, but big enough.
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