03-03-2008, 05:09 AM
When the Bear and I made our excursion to the County side of the lava flow, we had read the HVNP guidelines for volcano hiking. So we had hiking shoes, lots of water, flashlights, hazard awareness self-briefing, etc. Many on the trail did not, but managed to survive without anything worse than scraped ankles that we noticed. The lackadaisical supervision of the whole thing by the County "safety" personnel (I think they were actually road workers?) caused Bear to remark, "At least one thing here is the same as back in Georgia. It takes four County workers to do what one or two should be able to do."
But seriously, how would the County be liable for stupid people doing stupid things on what I believe was either private or state property? (And how could they charge admission to it for that matter? Having to stop and pay did cause at least some of the visitors to look at the safety poster, though.) Other than the cost of rescuing and/or treating the stray idiot, the liability exposure should be minimal. As noted above, the cost of rescue/treatment should be paid by those who violated the posted guidelines. Glen, I know you are not licensed to practice law in Hawaii, but do you know how this works?
"At your own risk" is a concept I can live with, especially if the risks are posted and made known to a reasonable extent. If you are clueless enough to think that visiting an active lava flow is risk free, there is always that Darwinian thing about leaving the gene pool.
Cheers,
Jerry
But seriously, how would the County be liable for stupid people doing stupid things on what I believe was either private or state property? (And how could they charge admission to it for that matter? Having to stop and pay did cause at least some of the visitors to look at the safety poster, though.) Other than the cost of rescuing and/or treating the stray idiot, the liability exposure should be minimal. As noted above, the cost of rescue/treatment should be paid by those who violated the posted guidelines. Glen, I know you are not licensed to practice law in Hawaii, but do you know how this works?
"At your own risk" is a concept I can live with, especially if the risks are posted and made known to a reasonable extent. If you are clueless enough to think that visiting an active lava flow is risk free, there is always that Darwinian thing about leaving the gene pool.
Cheers,
Jerry