Missing elderly man - East of Balladonia/Rawlinna

I agree with Stephen a PLB should be mandatory.
Then again this bloke may have a PLB but is unable to set it off. If he has a PLB registered in his name then I guess his prospects are not bright, lets hope otherwise.

Fellas, I agree with your PLB advice - but I think the problem here is, that travelling alone when you're 80 is not advisable, either.
Despite the fact he looks fairly fit, health problems can strike even a fit person down suddenly when we get to "a serious age".

Now, I know a lot of us on here fall into the category of "a serious age" - but one has to keep in mind, we all fall victim to health decline as we age - and a stroke - even a transient one - can immobilise you rapidly. In which case, even a PLB might not be any use, if you can't reach it and operate it.

My wifes Auntie (a fit 84 yr old) suffered a transient stroke about 12 yrs ago, when she was driving back from church with a friend on a Sunday morning.
Strangely enough, it didn't affect her driving ability - she just suddenly got lost, and couldn't figure out her way home - despite being in her familiar suburb, where she'd lived for close on 60 yrs.

Luckily, her friend helped her to find her way home - but the friend rang my missus and told her what happened, with a great deal of concern expressed.
We took Auntie to the Doc and he confirmed she'd had a transient stroke that had temporarily affected her memory.

She promptly gave up driving, fully aware that her functions were declining. It threw quite a bit of additional burden onto us, but it enabled us to monitor her a lot more closely.
From that event, she started to decline quite rapidly (we suspect she had more transient strokes), and the day immediately after we'd organised for her to move into a nursing home, she had a heart attack and died.

I'm a little concerned this old fella might've had a transient stroke or heart attack along the Rawlinna track, and is struggling to remember where he is or what he was doing.
Hopefully, someone will find him in recoverable shape soon - but personally, I fear the worst.

Cheers, Ron.

Ron, I understand what you are saying but I, and I suspect many others, are not about to give up on life and will continue to do what we think we can. We all have to go sometime and I have no intention of staying at home and wait for it, if there is any chance I can do another trip, no matter how remote. I wish to be the judge of what I am capable of doing. I carry a SPOT tracker so at least my family always know where I am. Rather than suggest that at 80 one should not go remote, maybe one could suggest that they carry a tracker (and PLB, or even better a satphone too) so at least it is known where you are.

Chris, I'm not saying, that at 80, you should stop travelling to remote areas if you're still capable - I'm just saying that doing it alone is risky.

I feel the same as you, I'm not looking forward to the day when the Doc says, "I'm going have to have to recommend your driving licence be suspended" - and hopefully, I'll have realised my extended driving days are over, before a Doc tells me first.

Fortunately, most people realise their driving limitations as they age, and limit their driving accordingly.

It's a bit of a concern though, when you see numbers of people driving when they shouldn't be.

We watched an old couple leave a local pub after a feed one Sunday lunchtime a few weeks back.
The bloke would have been close to 90 I reckon, and his wife not far behind. The old bloke was really struggling with walking, looked like he was pretty slow on the reflexes, and we watched as his wife assisted him to the carpark and their car.

I cracked a joke to the missus - "just watch, he's going to be the driver!" - and my jaw dropped as the wife assisted him into the drivers seat, she climbed into the passenger seat herself - and off he went!!

I trust he only drove a few hundred metres to home - because the pub's located on a very busy highway, where the traffic is fast and furious, and I couldn't imagine how the old fella would cope with it!

Cheers, Ron.

-
We "old fellas' cope very well with driving thank you Ron.
It is the rest of the road users who seem to have a problem with our driving! LOL

Allan - Yeah, I know! It's those crazy speeding young fools that race around like mad things, that cause trouble, don't they? LOL

I can remember seeing a great rear window decal years ago - highly suitable for us old fogies!

It read (in big red letters) - "SPEED ON, MAD FOOL!!! - HELL AIN'T FULL YET!!

LOL

Cheers, Ron.

Yep, a spot tracker would have been perfect in this situation.

Wizzer

Hi Guys

Yes Spot would have been good....but you have to pay the fees to keep it active, where as with a PLB, no yearly fees and free to use.

Seeing the man was in trouble and it could have been a life threatening situation, thePLB would have also saved a lot of issues.



Cheers


Stephen

Hi Ron

Thanks for the update.


Cheers


Stephen