Yes i'm Dutch, En alles is goed, behalve het weer
We have for land based operations 4 helicopters, Some areas are covered by the Germans and some by the Belgium, as we do in Germany and Belgium. Sea operations is left to defense with specialized SAR heli's.
There are two points that come into play and what i was referring to. The chance that something will happen, and be prepare for that and a social acceptance of risk.
The chances that something will happen when spending time in the outdoor is relatively low compared to other dangers. And so the fear of help being further than normal is not a logical. one. And with that the second one, is what risk do we actually accept. Participating in traffic, with 2,2 deaths a day and many more injured, is far more dangerous than sport in the outdoors. But do we prepare with the same effort, as an outdoor trip? No. Socially and i wrote this more often, going outdoors and sleeping under a tree, just feels dangerous but isn't. If a hiker dies of hypothermia or, to put it rough, with an axe in his head would be news and the media will cover this big time. A car windscreen in your head is no news, because it happens on a daily basis. So basically we send our kids on the street with nothing, but carry 2 kg medical stuff with us, just in case when making a trip. A book that might be of interst on the subject of outdoor riskmanagement, is 3x3 Lawine, from Werner Munter.
But now the fun part...the statistics
unnatural deaths 2012 in the Netherlands : Location.
around the house: 941
hospital: 586
public road: 62 ( this number is influenced big time by the fact that a deadth must be confirmed, and so the most traffic deaths die on there way to the hospital or in the hospital.)
recreation or nature: 72
other: 998
unknown: 1030
Cause:
Fall: 2376
object intruding or hitting: 21
burn: 27
drowning: 64
suffocation: 119
other: 136, unknown: 89
activity.
Play: 8
Housekeeping: 48
DIY: 25
Sport: 5
Going to or coming from the toilet: 128 (real dangerous!) mostly elderly i guess.
Other: 1776
Injures to activity:
fitness: 8
dancing: 9
bicycle: 31
gymnastics: 5
running: 9
fishing: 32
gardening: 15
tennis: 14
hiking:16
swimming: 12
skating: 26
sort injury by activity
brucing: 14
torn musscle or bands: 65
breaking bones: 6
dislocating arm: 1
dislocating shoulder:9
over stressing joints and muscles: 25
knee: 26
hand: 3
head:6
leg general: 5
other: 13
Some remarkable numbers i think.
But in all the risk, and therefore the preperation could be smaller than we feel necessary. Were feel is the keyword here. A medical kit does more at home, than in the woods