Police fed up with 'dumb' desert tourists

[Bird]

I can understand this.... but what can you to do protect morons from themselves...

Senior Constable Neale McShane has made about 20 mercy dashes across the unforgiving Simpson Desert in his time at Birdsville station.

He rescues holidaymakers and travellers who have been caught in searing heat without food and water and nothing but sand dunes in sight.

One word comes to mind when Constable McShane talks about many of those needing rescue: “Dumb”.

He said on Thursday he was fed up with rescuing travellers who venture into the Simpson Desert ill-prepared and ignorant.

Last Sunday, Constable McShane, a nurse and an ambulance officer drove for nine hours through the night to reach three motorbike riders stranded with just two litres of water each.

The Victorian men, aged 42, 49 and 54, had set out from Mildura on a biking trip to Queensland, but one rider crashed and injured his back outside Birdsville. The group then activated an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon.

“These guys were very poorly prepared, they had very little water with them - less than two litres each - they had no satellite phone [and] they had no UHF radios,” Constable McShane, the officer-in-charge of Birdsville police station, he said.

“They had all their gear on the bikes – fuel, water, food, camping equipment, tools, spares – so the bikes were too laden.”

A Dornier aircraft, which costs taxpayers $50,000 with each deployment, was dispatched from Melbourne to locate the trio.

The plane dropped survival kits containing water, food, a satellite phone and radio to the bikers.

“These containers have got smoke coming out of them to attract attention, they’ve got flashing lights and they also make a siren-type noise,” Constable McShane said.

“So they dropped one container and two of the men walked over looked at it and then went back to camp. So the plane went back again and dropped another container, but the same thing happened.”

After dropping a third container, the plane crew gave up.

“The men didn’t even look inside the containers, which would have been handy for them, because it would have opened up lines of communication with Search and Rescue,” Constable McShane said.

“They thought it was the rescuers dropping things so they would know that help was coming.”

Constable McShane reached the riders at daybreak on Monday. The injured rider was flown to Birdsville by helicopter and then transferred to hospital by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

“The two who weren’t injured said they were going to keep going, but I said, ‘nup, the ride’s cancelled, you’re coming back to Birdsville with us’,” he said.

“You’re not properly prepared, you’ve got no radio, no SAT phone, the EPIRB was out of batteries, or close to it.”

Constable McShane said he kindly advised the riders to hone their preparation skills.

“I think they thought it was a nice pleasant little drive across the desert,” he said.

Constable McShane said between six and eight travelling parties are stranded in the desert each year.

He estimated he had personally carried out more than 20 rescue operations in his eight years at Birdsville station.

Some travellers are well-prepared, but unlucky.

The majority, however, fail to take the proper precautions, putting themselves in danger.

The human body can succumb to the elements of the harsh Australian outback in just three hours, according to survival instructor Nick Vroomans.

Once core body temperature exceeds 40 degrees the blood thickens, stressing vital organs. Heat stroke follows and soon death.

“It’s dangerous for us too, because you’re going over sandhill after sandhill and you’re travelling through the night. The nurse has to come out and there’s only one nurse in Birdsville,” Constable McShane said.

“That takes the ambulance and the nurse out of Birdsville, plus the police officer.”

Last year, Mauritz 'Mo' Pieterse, 25, perished less than 12 hours after becoming stranded in the desert, on Ethabuka Station.

The South-African born passionate conservationist was experienced in the bush, according to his employer and his family, but a routine morning check of a bore site proved fatal for the 25-year-old station worker.

He died after deciding to leave his vehicle and walk back to the station. He perished less than seven kilometres into his journey.

Constable McShane has heard many an extraordinary survival story.

One family was bogged for three days in the desert before activating their EPIRB.

Another father and his two young teenage children ran out of fuel about 60 kilometres outside Birsdville. The trio was rescued by a passing vehicle, but not before they tried to walk five kilometres in 47 degree heat with only 600 millimetre water bottles.

Others who have become bogged have been spotted by passing motorists by chance and rescued.

“Those stories could have ended very differently,” he said.

Mount Isa District Officer Inspector Trevor Kidd said driving in the outback came with a high risk.

“Breaking down or having even a minor traffic crash can have very serious consequences when they occur hundreds of kilometres from the nearest help,” he said.

“Drivers need to be as self sufficient as possible and ensure they carry the correct equipment to communicate with emergency service providers.”

He said a satellite telephone and personal locator beacon were essential travel companions.

“Don’t rely on mobile phones in the outback,” Inspector Kidd said.

“You are likely to be out of range for some or most of your trip, depending on where you are going. A satellite phone is a real lifeline. If something goes wrong knowing what the situation is before we head out will enable us to better assist you.”

Inspector Kidd said travellers also needed to give consideration to their type of vehicle.

“If you are riding a motorbike it would be wise to consider having a support vehicle travelling with you,” he said.

“Don’t underestimate the tyranny of distance. If something goes wrong help is literally hours and hours away.”


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/police-fed-up-with-dumb-desert-tourists-20140501-zr2ms.html#ixzz30Wo3bEXS

[Tractor88]

Who wants to protect morons??

[Tim - Stratford]

Substitute 'desert' with 'snow' and it's what we get down here... 

[alnjan]

Easiest solution is to send them the bill.  If they can't afford to be prepared they better be prepared to pay the consequences

[nbd73]

Easiest solution is to send them the bill.  If they can't afford to be prepared they better be prepared to pay the consequences

Why should the "dumb" people be treated any differently to our "smart" politicians? They make bad decisions based on poor preparation and knowledge of their portfolio and us taxpayers foot the bill for the consequences all the time. And their dumb decisions cost us a sh#%load more than $50,000

[Bird]

Why should the "dumb" people be treated any differently to our "smart" politicians? They make bad decisions based on poor preparation and knowledge of their portfolio and us taxpayers foot the bill for the consequences all the time. And their dumb decisions cost us a sh#%load more than $50,000

maybe cause other people risk their lives to save these deadShits, where politicians, nobody would risk spit to save their lives...
YMMV

[KingBilly]

The dumb dicks should be billed.  No ifs or buts.  Goes for all idiots who need rescuing due to lack of preparation and/or stupidity, be they boaties, bush walkers or whatever.

On a side note, got to love how after only 5 posts the thread got hijacked and turned into a political rant.

KB

[ozstickman]

Fair enough if it is a genuine emergency, accident, unforeseen medical emergency etc but just being stuck, lost or hurt because of stupidity well then hit them with the cost. 


Sent from my Ring-a-ding-a-ling

[macca]

Same basic thing that came up in a thread the other day regarding people expecting to be rescued when things go wrong.
In my younger days I used to do a fair amount of ocean racing and we never ever once went to sea expecting to be rescued, if we thought like that we probably wouldnt have gone, as far as we were concerned our safety was up to us.
There were two things we tried to get 100%  before we set out, one was preparation of the boat and two was preparation of the crew. We carried out safety training, search & rescue procedures so that every one knew what to do if something were to go wrong and were fortunate that we never had to issue a Pan Pan or Mayday but we did have a couple of serious incidents that took all our training and experience to come through. One of our procedures was that in the advent we did have to get into the liferaft that this was the time that the distress beacon / EPIRB were to be triggered and for those of you that dont go to sea, usually by this time the boat has sunk out from under you and you have bent over and kissed your **** goodbye.

I believe it is the same for outback travel as well, its up to you to prepare, carry all the safety gear you could need and prepare yourself (and your crew) for anything that comes up, there will always be accidents and events that are out of your control, but its really up to you to get through the situation to the point that as a last resort you ask for help and when you do, you know what the emergency services require you to do to aid your rescue after all as Lost said above they are risking their safety and as also pointed out above by taking the nurse away from other duties you could be putting others safety at risk as well

Having seen personally what these SAR guys do at sea to bring people back to their loved ones I hold them in very high esteem and everyone of us has a duty to make their jobs as simple as possible if and when we do need their help.


End of rant

[Bird]

Fair enough if it is a genuine emergency, accident, unforeseen medical emergency etc but just being stuck, lost or hurt because of stupidity well then hit them with the cost. 

... agree 96%.. hurt is hurt.. but none or lack of preparation stuck, or lost knickers.. like the bike riders - 2ltrs of water each for their whole trip.. no UHF, No Sat Phone, ignoring the stuff dropped from the $50,000 plane that dropped stuff TWICE (read the above article) WTF?

[Bird]

bit more info
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/stranded-simpson-motorbike-rider-denies-being-illprepared-20140502-37mvs.html

[briann532]

Why should the "dumb" people be treated any differently to our "smart" politicians? They make bad decisions based on poor preparation and knowledge of their portfolio and us taxpayers foot the bill for the consequences all the time. And their dumb decisions cost us a sh#%load more than $50,000

Well put.

[edz]

So in the three months of prep for the trip they never once read / heard that it was / could be hard and at a minimum you need these things just in case .. Love the "  would have loved to have had a sat phone " quote .. Well why didnt they ....gee what if we rented one and split the cost three ways Dooohhhh ...
Methinks the copper is well justifyed in his comments ..

[macca]

So in the three months of prep for the trip they never once read / heard that it was / could be hard and at a minimum you need these things just in case .. Love the "  would have loved to have had a sat phone " quote .. Well why didnt they ....gee what if we rented one and split the cost three ways Dooohhhh ...
Methinks the copper is well justifyed in his comments ..

Yeah that and the "pretty easy route", wouldn't you think that in their three months prep one of them might have suggested a weekend trip fully loaded to Murray Sunset to see if the bikes wern't overloaded and their 30 years of experience could handle them

[Beatle]

But there are always different interpretations of how much is enough training/experience/equipment.   If everyone in history had have thought so hard about the challenges in front of them, we'd still be back in the Bronze Age, and from what I've read, there was no beer in the stone age......

There are plenty of worldly achievements we celebrate, but which would have been seen as foolish if things had not worked out so well.   Edmund Hillary/Tensing Norgay?

Then there are also plenty of failures we still celebrate, but in today's environment those failures would have been ridiculed as suicidal attempts to achieve the impossible.  A couple of dead Polar and desert explorers come to mind.

And I'm not having a go at Macca, but plenty of ocean racers have come unstuck and needed help, and what were they really trying to achieve?   It could be argued that ocean racing does nothing for the greater good and their pursuits are purely for personal gain/glory.

Anyone seen Bush Mechanics....

[oldmate]

"We would have loved to have had a satellite phone, but we were under the impression it was a pretty easy route."


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/stranded-simpson-motorbike-rider-denies-being-illprepared-20140502-37mvs.html#ixzz30YReQkQo

So 3 months prep and they still thought it was an easy route.   Idiots. They should be sent the bill

[KingBilly]

But there are always different interpretations of how much is enough training/experience/equipment.   If everyone in history had have thought so hard about the challenges in front of them, we'd still be back in the Bronze Age, and from what I've read, there was no beer in the stone age......

There are plenty of worldly achievements we celebrate, but which would have been seen as foolish if things had not worked out so well.   Edmund Hillary/Tensing Norgay?

Then there are also plenty of failures we still celebrate, but in today's environment those failures would have been ridiculed as suicidal attempts to achieve the impossible.  A couple of dead Polar and desert explorers come to mind.

And I'm not having a go at Macca, but plenty of ocean racers have come unstuck and needed help, and what were they really trying to achieve?   It could be argued that ocean racing does nothing for the greater good and their pursuits are purely for personal gain/glory.

Anyone seen Bush Mechanics....

Don't think the early explorers nor Hillary etc had any expectations of being rescued if they got into trouble.

But these dicks, and others like them, head out on their adventures, be it crossing the Simpson on a motorbike, or fishing the reef, or whatever in their ill-prepared vehicles/boats, and without sufficient planning and preparation, then think it is their God-given right to be rescued at tax payers expense.  Make them pay for their own stupidity I reckon

KB

[macca]

No problem Beatle, I am not suggesting not have a go, I admire what all those past explorers that did, but I bet they were pretty well prepared, for their day, and that none of them expected to be rescued if or when it turned pear shaped.
As for the ocean racing, I did it for one reason, the thrill of the challenge, simple. I will never know if we were just fortunate or whether we were well prepared, glad I never had to find out

I agree with KingBilly

macca

[Pog]

I did an 8 day trail bike trip through the Flinders last year on my WR450. There were 8 x blokes on bikes aged 32 - 59. We planned for months, had a backup vehicle, hired a sat phone always made sure we had UHF contact with the backup vehicle I he had to take another route, carried our own water and 1st aid kits.

Only 1 x day that 2 of us, the younger guys with proper enduro bikes, not tourers, went on a 200 km ride just south of Arkaroola. We both had an emergency plan, because we were a long way from any help. The other guys knew were we were going, and what time we would be back to camp. That day I nearly came unstuck in a creek at reasonable speed. I got lucky, and held on and stayed upright. I stopped, composed myself (read: emptied the sh!t out of my pants...) at that stage, I realised how remote we were, and how far away help was. I rode a lot more careful after that.

There is a certain freedom and feeling that one can enjoy when riding a motorbike in the outback, but that same freedom can become a world of crap when it all goes wrong!

[duggie]

Up here in North Queensland we have the CREB track, the CREB track is closed during the wet season ( and until it has dried out ) and there many people who decide to drive the CREB track when it is closed. The track is in extremely hilly country, you are either going up a bloody steep hill or you are going down a bloody steep hill, the track when wet is very slippery.

The Cooktown police have had to attempt many rescues over the years, they have written of over 10 police 4x4 vehicles while trying to rescue morons who have come unstuck on the track.

The search and rescue helicopter is called out many times during the tracks closure to assist with rescues, and those who have been rescued including their vehicles, get away with no recovery cost, some have even posted on social media bragging about their adventure.

I agree with those who believe that people should be charged for rescue when things go wrong and  preperation ( the lack of ) or regulations ( road closures ) have been  ignored.

cheers duggie

[macca]

What makes me laugh, if it wasnt so serious is the comment about "... we thought they were flares ....", for gods sake. He has set off an epirb ( emergency POSITION INDICATING radio beacon and a plane has found him, even if it was a bi-plane it would have position indicating GPS so I think they know where he is, why drop flares (may have had flares going off probably same kit they would drop at sea. Different at sea where your position is changing and your hard to spot in the white caps, never the less if he had done his preparation you would know they would be including as many if the 10 C's of survival in the kit that they could. I could almost be certain one of the guys in the plane would be trying to contact him on UHF channel 10, out there, and would be scanning other UHF channels, low tech for them but they would have been trying. Failing all that, because of his preparation he would know to draw a big X on the ground ( need medical assistance) because he knows how to communicate with rescue aircraft when his radio has failed. Give him a bill

macca