I purchased my PLB primarily for backcountry wilderness travel, but routinely keep it with me when driving through the mountains of BC. There are many areas with no cell phone coverage. This afternoon I was one of the first on scene at a major traffic accident in just one such area. A minivan was off the side of the road, up an embankment, smashed to pieces, with the occupants apparently thrown from the vehicle during the crash. Both of them were badly injured, one more critically. One passenger left to drive back to cell phone coverage to call for help.

I decided to activate my PLB, knowing that the quick notification, as well as GPS location information, would help to get emergency services activated, and assistance to the couple faster than just waiting for the phone call to get through. By chance a search and rescue volunteer was also one of the first on the scene, and we provided emergency aid to the injured couple, and eventually CPR to the more critically injured man, until police and paramedics arrived on the scene. At this stage I do not know the fate of the man, but I do know we did everything we could, and the police informed me that they had received the PLB notification.