ballz said:
That kid was still 10km from home by the time his machine got stuck (don't know how far the journey actually was)... Just how far out into the middle of nowhere, in one of the most extreme environments on the planet, does a kid have to go alone and unprepared, before it's unacceptable?
I amended the quote slightly to keep it to what I personally see as the most relevant part of the issue, IMO. When I read thru the info on it I've seen, which granted isn't very much compared to what is likely out there, the word 'complacency' comes to my mind. How many times has this youngster ventured out on his own, to go to his grandparents place on ski-do alone? If it was frequently/often/routinely, I would say his entire immediate family AND the boy himself 'got used to it'. You, thru repetition of action with no adverse consequences, start to get complacent. The 'swiss cheese' starts and a series of very unfortunate events line up the way no one wants them to. The *real* dangers become routine, and lose the attention they deserve.
My wife sometimes used to laugh at me for what kit I would take with me on a summer's day hike on a coastal part of NS. Or some place we'd been before. Then, a 19 year old singer was killed on the Skyline Trail in CB. Not so much laughing. I go prepared not only for OUR welfare, but also for the welfare of the person/people we might happen across who DON'T know any better and have gotten into a situation.
"Its better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it".
Some of the bleeding hearts out there will chastise you (us) for even suggesting that the parents could have prevented this though.
Ya, thats expected in the way of todays society in this great country we call Canada.
I understand the loved ones of the dead young boy to react emtionally, to blame "anyone! whoever!" in their grief...The Fifth Estate, if they are going to tell the story,
should be professional enough to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".
Unfortunately, 'truth' doesn't always get people to watch a broadcast...