If I may, and as a regular on the site mentioned previously, it should be known that many of us there are on the beach 2-3 days at a time fishing, maybe 8 months out of the year, so maybe we know the Island and it's rangers better than alot of people.
Couple things come to mind about the accident, and the roll, as close as I can logically figure is, it was dark, probably not driving in the water but along the adjacent beach, can't say how fast he may have been driving, but from experience, probably faster than the 25mph limit. Along the beach's edge, the tides can create "drop-offs" some I have seen 3' and greater, so, scenerio in my mind would be, travelling slighty (for the sake of argument) more than the posted speed, at night, came upon an "edge" which was either seen too late or not at all, and the vehicle rolled.
What bothers me the most though is the talk about the rangers, and maybe changes need to be made, but shouldn't effect those of us who know the rules and follow them, which may just happen, and thus because of the "stupidity" of the minority, the majority may end up getting screwed. The rangers have about 18 miles of legal ORV area, guess some of which may be 1/2 mile wide or more (not sure), to keep an eye out on, so a vehicle in an emergency situation, it could be assumed by some of the "facts" presented, should have had an ORV permit, known the rules and therefore on the ORV zone. Now, driving from the ORV entrance down to the Virginia line itself is about a half hours drive, then, who nows how much time could be spent driving the reckognized crossovers that take one west toward the bay, but figure one could take another half hour looking in each of theses areas,so I could see one spending almost 4 hours or more searching the ORV area alone. So, maybe, that is where the search was done. Heard quite a few times where vehicles were in an emergincy situations, but by the time the rangers arrived, either others helped them, or managed on their own to get out of, with no call to the rangers, so rangers have looked for vehicles in an emergency situation, of course finding nothing.
Also, off the ORV, and nothing exactly indicated it was on the ORV, there are other access areas toward the bayside, where vehicles are permitted, so maybe those areas another hour or two search. So, a thorough search of allowed vehicle access may take upwards of 5-6 hours or more to accomplish.
Also, the area of the accident was in the area of the rangers station, amazingly enough, where if one had walked west away from the ocean, maybe a five or ten minute walk, help would have been there, so, maybe another reason to focus on the ORV area.
Now can say first hand seen some "inexperiencd" drivers on the ORV when schools get out, driving fast (too fast), doing doughnuts and flat out wrecklessly driving, seen some rollers, but very few in the years there, plenty of burried to the frames, broken axles and blown engines.
Me, don't know for a fact lawsuits filed, it wouldn't surprise me, one can sue for just about anything in this here good ol' US of A, and though, yes a tragic accident, would hate for the Park Service to be blamed for many driver errors that might have occirred that night. Believe it or not, they do their jobs, and feel they do them well,and are more than willing to go above and beyond their "stated duties". But to blame them, when, the driver took his vehicle in a "no vehicles permitted" area, which is clearly signed (and nobody has said whether he had a valid permit or not at this point), probably exceeding the posted speed, and even if not drinking, so will assume they were not, if you are not familiar with the beach, surprises can be just ahead of you, and before you realize it, best case, you are stuck to the frame, or, as in this case, a tragic accident occurs.
I am sorry for the loss of lives, and feel for the families involved, and my prayers are with them, but we here in America must begin to place blame where it belongs, on the individuals, and not looking to pin the blame on others.
Just my two cents worth as an AI regular, so those that feel the need, go ahead and bash away, I am a big boy, I can take it.
Me, nothing against Hummers or the owners, but.
Have Jeep will travel
|