Actually, they had 3 cell phones. They were too far from a service area to make a call. However, some cell company engineers did eventually sniff some traces of their
*attempted* calls which ultimately led to rescue of the mom and two kids.
you can buy a external cell phone yagi antenna, for well under 50 bucks it will provide service in far away locations. if the cell system detected these failed calls they would of gone thru fine with a yagi.
I helped a friend with a cottage in a no service area, with that yagi he gets 4 bars:) but is terthered to a cable when usiung the phone. nice al;l cell phones ave a standard jack, under one of those small plastic covers on your phone.
Anyone who has used a GPS navigation system like a garmin street pilot KNOWS its way better than a compass. One day they will be mandated in all new cars for safety!
That GPS information is only good if you can supply the information to someone else. Apparently, they did not have a working cell phone, or were in a dead zone, and were unable to call for help and give their location. It would seem awfully strange that someone working for Cnet did not have a cell phone. My cell phone has GPS capability. It will give me the lat. and long. coordinates of my phone. Giving that info to rescuers will lead them right to me, if my phone was working, that is.
I only (almost) needed it once. I had my son and two of his friends in the car, and night, and it was snowing heavily. We spotted a car in a ditch, and the driver was standing on the side of the road. I locked the doors, pulled over and opened the driver's side window to ask if he'd called for help. He said he had no cell phone, but assumed another passerby had dialed 911. I knew the sheriff's station was 10 minutes away. The guy looked healthy, so I didn't think he was in any imminent danger. I told him I'd dial 911 right away, and told him to get back in his car, because I could see that his doors were still accessible. He didn't agree. He wanted to get in. I told him that wasn't going to happen with kids in the car, but that I'd be glad to give him a blanket to help keep warm until the cops arrived. He raised his voice and it became clear (by smell) that he'd been in cocktail mode before parking in the ditch. He actually reached through window and started feeling around for the handle. Out came the gun, I explained the future to him, and he got very quiet and got back in his car.
On the car, not much, but the car is frequently nearby when you want a basic toolkit for something else.
Burning the spare tire didn't help, but they had four others to try on different days.
When I was a cab driver, twice I had my right side visor down with the sign on it that says OUT OF SERVICe, and someone wanted to get in. In one case I remember yelling No, no through the winter-closed windows, and probably in the other case too. When they reached for the door handel and their hands got near, as best I could see, I just drove away. If they had hold of the handle by then, I hope they let go.
Let me check.... Nope, they're not here so they must have let go.
If one ties a white rag to the door handle or the car antenna, passers-by are supposed to call for help for you. Lacking a white rag, I think any rag would do.
Does anyone still know that?
Have the makers of signs convinced people that they must have a sign to get help?
I wouldn't do that job without a shotgun in the car. :)
When you're in unfamiliar territory, a mapping GPS can give you an idea where you're most likely to find other people by telling you about towns and/or major intersections. It's also been alleged that the guy in question tracked a semicircular route, which would have been much less likely if he had been carrying a GPS. The fact that you can't tell anyone where you are doesn't make it useless for you to know where you are.
Two turtle doves, and a parrrrrtridge in a pearrrrr treeeeeeeeeeeee!
Had an accident once where my fender got bashed in to where it rubbed the tire. A hammer would have let me bend the fender out and drive the car home.
Heh. Even if you could get a shotgun out and pointed whilest inside a car, you'll permanently destroy your hearing if you touch it off.
WHAT???
Enough booze to make everyting go smootly
This was Chicago in 1969. And I worked nights. But the only trouble I had were three customers who didn't pay. Interestingly, one was Latino, one was black, and one was white. A balanced ticket.
No one had a partition between the driver and the back seat in those days either.
One was female, one male, and one I don't remember.
Oh, yeah, and there was another white woman, in her 30's it seemed, attractive, who was the only one who rushed me, and I shouldn't have let her get to me, but I hurried, and when the car in front of me started to turn left into a driveway, I pulled to the right to go around him. Then he stopped short and I tapped his bumper. The first thing I did was turn around and look at the passenger. She was just where she was the previous time I looked.
I didnt' have a radio but someone called the cab company (maybe the police, if the police came, and they probably did since it was Michigan Avenue a half block north of the Chicago River. I didnt' get a ticket though, nor did the other driver.).
The cab company immediately paid off the owner of the car and the passenger. Not much because they both knew they weren't injured. I know they say not to sign a release right away because one doesn't know if he is injured or not, but that's when there is at least a little bit of force to the impact. I wouldn't have known I hit the guy if I hadn't heard the noise -- my body didn't even lurch forward
-- so I'm sure they were fine. I think the driver got 150 and the passenger 50 or 100, in 1969. The extra 50 was the cost to fix the car, a fair amount in those days.
The passenger was in a hurry and right away got another cab, but about a year later, she sued me for $100,000. And the cab company. And she already had medical bills for $50,000, the lawyer told me. I was glad I had taken a job with Yellow and not with the unknown cab company which didn't provide insurance if I got sued. They said, Yes, but if we sue someone, you will share in the money we get. :-) (At the time Chicago had 2000 Yellow cabs, 1000 Checker cabs, and I don't know how many others. Later Yellow and Checker merged.)
Anyhow, my employer's insurance company's lawyer's private detective found out that she had fallen down the steps in Texas in the past year (I guess he checked out the medical bills) so it's likely that the cab company won the case, but I still feel bad for having that accident, which probably cost them more money than I took in in fares the whole year.
I worked about 30 hours a week for about a year, nights.
You must be younger than I am. Nylon stockings, Hershey bars, and probably lipstick were how GI's made friends with the girls** during WWII. **girls in their late teens and 20's.
I think they did have a cellphone. That's how they eventually found them.
And you never go past your exit? Show a little compassion for a dead man and his widow and orphans.
And there was supposed to be a closed, locked gate on the road they took, but vandals had cut off the lock.
Me too. I don't want GPS. The odds on getting lost and suffering a permanent injury because of it are very low.
If I had to go to clients all the time, and was short of time, a GPS might be necessary for work. But probably not. I find reading the map and finding a place to be one of the most fun things I do.
Sometimes I eschew the map, even. Went to a party in Atlanta, had looked at the map on the way from the airport before I got to the party. Then I decided to find my hotel without looking at the map again. Just headed northwest, and then north, and then a bit northeast, and I found it. It was great.
He did for 3 or 4 days. It would be difficult to know what to do after that long a period.
By checking his tracks in the snow, it turned out that he walked 10 miles in a circle however, and died only a mile from his car.
You know I had that too, but in that particular case, a hammer wouldn't be enough. I had the tow truck driver, who was called before I got there, pull out the fender. I had let him tow me, so he did it for free. It was rubbing the fender so I assumed it had to be towed. I was only 23. Maybe if I had been older or had more time, I would have figured it out sooner.
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