[Vision2020] Man Dies of Hypothermia After Pickup Crash

[Kenneth Marcy]

On Monday, November 21, 2011 08:29:01 AM Tom Hansen wrote:
> Courtesy of KHQ at:
> 
http://www.khq.com/story/16090609/man-dies-of-hypothermia-after-pickup-crash 
> 
> ------------------------------
> Man dies of hypothermia after pickup crash
> 
> GENESEE, Idaho (AP) - Latah County officials say a 34-year-old Juliaetta
> man died of apparent hypothermia after leaving his stranded vehicle to
> seek help.
> 
> Officials say Lee F. Roberts was driving his pickup truck on a south Latah
> County road at about midnight Friday when slick conditions caused the
> pickup to go off the road and get stuck. Roberts and his passenger were
> unable to free the truck and he left around 2:30 a.m. to go for help.
> 
> After four hours, 30-year-old Dawn Moore of Moscow went looking for
> Roberts. She found him unconscious and covered in snow about a half-mile
> from the pickup. A passing motorist took Moore to a grocery store, where
> she called 911 at about 7:30 a.m.
> 
> He was taken to the hospital, where he died at 10:40 a.m. Saturday.

Apologies in advance if the facts don't match my unsupported conclusion, but 
if this fellow was substance-impaired late-at-night on a weekend, and he had a 
cell phone, especially one with a contact entry for a taxi company known to 
offer complementary rides home for individuals in an impaired condition, and he 
had sufficient wit to use it for that purpose, he might be still alive.

There are cell phone with breathalysers built-into them, which can give an 
indication whether driving is safe or legal, and thus allow alternative action 
to be considered. Further, there are cell phones with Bluetooth connections to 
automobile electrical systems to allow hands free operation while driving.

An existing electronic project that built a Breathalyzer in an Altoids box 
with a Bluetooth connection to an Andriod phone for test results might well be 
extended to create an electronic ignition interlock to prevent a vehicle 
starting until sobriety, or another driver, is available to the vehicle.

Of course, getting such devices into the awareness, and the hands, of people 
who need them, when they need them, is a significant challenge quite above and 
beyond just getting basic cell phone capability into the hands of people who 
might use it in an emergency rescue situation to call for assistance.

Idaho has had a Good Samaritan law on the books for 46 years, since 1965. I 
don't know for sure, but I don't suppose Idaho has a requirement to rescue 
anyone, so leaving someone lying in the snow while driving toward a telephone 
may have been legally allowable and a practical necessity to obtain help.


Ken