An article written by the University of Washington very own Department of Political Science professor, Anthony Gill, talks about the risks and dangers of making a policy that makes hikers pay for the cost of their rescue.
In the article, he talks about how some hikers do not think about the risk that comes with hiking, like the decisions they make while hiking or how challenging the trail or mountain they are going on is. The main point in his article is that making hikers pay for emergency rescue has its good side and bad side. The good side is that hikers would really put into consideration if they are fit enough for wherever they are hiking or consider the actions they take while hiking that would put them in serious risks like plunging into a ravine, finding unsafe shortcuts or walking off without telling the people the hiker came with. The disadvantage is, hikers could possibly find themselves in risky situations, and instead of them to call for help immediately, they would try to save themselves, which could put them in a more riskier situation due to the fact that they are trying to avoid paying the price for the emergency rescue service.
Gill later went to mention that, such policy needs to be given a lot of thinking before coming to life.