And he survived, injured and seriously dehydrated four days until the state police tracked him down with his cell phone records. Could have been a bad ending. Read more if you like. Why does it take four days for police to get the cell-phone data from somebody who is missing?

The article implies a delay, but it doesn't say it took a full four days to get access to his records. It doesn't even say how long it was before they were notified he was missing.

That's the downside of privacy issues...it can take an inordinately long time to gain access to a person's records, especially if they're not suspected of any wrongdoing.

Lucky guy.

A few years back an experienced BMW motorcycle rider went off a backroad and over a cliff in New Mexico. He was missed that same day. Extensive searching was done but his body wasn't found for months.

Things get a lot worse if one leaves the road ballistically.

I agree, there does not appear to be a "4 day" delay in getting to the cell records. Also remember that many times people who are reported "missing" are not actually missing. Often they are found at a family or friends home and with no idea that anyone considered them missing and are now looking for them.

Here is a direct link to the article that was mentioned in the blog post.

A Google news link to more articles regarding this.

Glad he made it. Badly injured and helpless is pretty much my nightmare scenario.

Aside:
All of our cell phones are in my name. I wonder if I should write down a "living will" granting immediate access to my records. Otherwise it might take a court order and waste valuable time.

Something along the lines of:

"I ________ do hereby grant immediate access to my cell phone records [insert numbers here] and location by triangulation for the purposes of search and rescue upon submission of a written request by any of these individuals [list]. I understand that removing the battery in my phone will limit or defeat these systems and ensure my privacy should I wish to do so."

I hate to be a downer, but I think that living will idea would fail for a few reasons:

1. A living will is for providing directives/instructions to health care providers/caregivers in case you become incapacitated. I don't think a living will can be used to grant permissions over your property if you're missing.

2. If, instead, you're talking about a living trust, then you first have to be pronounced dead. Second, the trustee has to take action. That process is going to take more than a few days to carry out. Further, the cops/rescue services are not going to be the trustee of your trust.

3. I'm not totally sure if you are the sole owner of your cell phone records. For example, the cell phone company may be owner-in-part, and they will provide extra red tape and time consumption.

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Basically, there has got to be a better way. I have done no research on this issue, but I'm inclined to think that wills and trusts would only delay matters. Perhaps your state already has laws to access cell phone records if someone is missing for, say, 24 hours or so.

I read the article. The guy lost control of his BMW. Although we don't know for sure, I'll assume that he was driving in an unsafe manner in the middle of nowhere. That's a fair assumption based on the information provided in the article.

We're here on this site talking about ways to survive this situation. It's important to point out that this particular situation is avoidable in the first place:

Don't drive like a maniac in the boonies if nobody is around to help you if you wreck.

I'll go further to say that it's wise not to do anything that's unsafe in the boonies if nobody is around to help you if you wreck. This case is confirmation, once again, that my mind is my most valuable survival tool.

While there's a chance he was leadfooting it, it not always that clear. One of my professors went out in a similar fashion. He drove over the edge when he had an asthma attack. He was not a leadfoot, and the route was part of his commute. They found didn't find him till the next day.

Ok, I totally agree with ireckon, the dude was probably driving like a freaking monkeyhead. You live with the consequences of your choices, drive like a moron, you may die.
But as to the "living will" - think power of attorney instead.

"I hereby grant a limited power of attorney to ... in order that he/she may be able to access any and all of my records to include but not limited to ..." Any semi-competent para-legal should be able to knock one out on in a matter of minutes.

BTW, should you turn up dead, then your will kicks in and that POA is null and void. The POA only allows someone to do what you could do in the same circumstances, but if you are dead ... well you get the point.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. No doubt my terminology is all wrong, it's just a starting point. Power of attorney is closer to what I'm thinking of. Probably the best plan is to contact my cell provider and ask them what they would need to expedite the locating and rescue of my sorry, dumb a--.