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bageltoots t1_ja57fa0 wrote

Unbelievable, was not at all the conclusion I was expecting. I would imagine there will be some look into many variables of this situation but great news!

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grimmowl t1_ja5ds4p wrote

I'm happy to hear that these 2 women were found safe and are home but i have to ask how often does the state of Maine issue driving licenses to people who are easily disoriented and have trouble processing information ?

I'm asking sincerely.

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borisasaurus t1_ja6c3r0 wrote

Not sure about you, but they didn’t test my ability to navigate when i went and got a license

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RealMainer t1_ja7tnq1 wrote

I failed my first drivers test when I was 16 because the instructor told me to go left and I went right lol.

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grimmowl t1_ja6i7uv wrote

Yea ..i hear ya..and i'm not trolling this topic but trouble processing information ain't navigating and a drivers test should show that...

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borisasaurus t1_ja6lgx5 wrote

Im not trolling either, navigating surely involves processing information and not getting disoriented. None of these things are tested by a drivers license exam in my experience. They make sure you know what a stop sign is and send you on your way. This is not unique to Maine as far as I’m aware

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Vomitus_The_Emetic t1_ja7yigi wrote

Their ability to navigate isn't what he says would fail them

Someone that bad at navigation is full on retarded

This likely shows in other ways like parallel parking, pulling out into traffic, etc

They should have been failed, it's a failure of the state of ME to pretend they have the right to deny anyone a license if they would give one to someone like this

−6

DazzlingBranch476 t1_ja5wai7 wrote

My family is from rural central Maine where many people only drive around two back and forth from a ‘hub’ town or city. The town is easily memorable and there is often only one way to get back and forth to the city. I could see a low bar for driver’s licenses in these incidences especially because services aren’t exactly flush.

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ODBEIGHTY1 t1_ja5utg0 wrote

Wondered the same thing, and not in a mean way as well, doesn't seem to make good sense! This may have ended differently, but fortunately did not!!

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monkeybeast55 t1_ja6prpv wrote

Uh, that accounts for a full half of people that drive.

Oh, and btw, did you notice that you basically can't exist without a car unless you live right in a city? They have no choice but to give everyone a license. Even if you mow multiple pedestrians down while drunk, and kill them, no worries, a judge will give you back your license in no time. Just drive, diddle your phone, and drink and get high! You're good!

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DidDunMegasploded t1_ja7hxun wrote

Plus public transportation here sucks mega-ass. That too. I can't speak for trains, but the busses? Yeah...no. It's improving but not by much.

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A_Common_Loon t1_ja86u5q wrote

I’m guessing that they are able to navigate around their home but don’t go out of town regularly. I live in Topsham and get confused whenever I go to the Maine mall! 😅 I imagine that maybe she has had some cognitive decline since she got her license. Being under stress, maybe not eating or being dehydrated, all of that can make someone even more impaired than usual.

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procrastinatorsuprem t1_ja8jayp wrote

Add to that they probably take daily medication that they haven't had in days. Without it they might be far worse

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A_Common_Loon t1_ja8kyav wrote

You’re right! I just posted an update above that says they didn’t have their blood pressure meds. That would definitely cause problems too.

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Good_Cookie3258 t1_ja7mxud wrote

When you take the test there is someone in the car…. Turn left, turn right, turn right…. You don’t need to even find your way back to where you started at the DMV.

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Elliptical_Tangent t1_ja7xinf wrote

Consider that people without licenses are going to have a hard time feeding themselves in Maine, and that's most of the answer.

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KezarLake t1_ja5nzjh wrote

Maybe they don’t have legit driver’s licenses…

−5

grimmowl t1_ja5sqyb wrote

Could be..as i've read one of the 2 had a state issued drivers license though.

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LMTPROBLEMS t1_ja5g10w wrote

I feel like you could make a pretty funny (and probably offensive) movie about two intellectually challenged Maine ladies getting lost for a week on a short drive to get fast food. I love how they couldn't navigate their way out of paper bag but did apparently survive many nights in extremely cold conditions. Classic Maine.

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DidDunMegasploded t1_ja5wn3l wrote

Ah finally, the acting break I've been looking for! They can cast someone with a real intellectual disability who plays a character against her skills.

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VegUltraGirl t1_ja5sb63 wrote

My coworker was just saying this today! Totally hilarious movie!

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_Face t1_ja5nc30 wrote

I was going to suggest that the Farelly brothers tackle that, but then I remembered they did already. Wasn’t that called Dumb and Dumber?

−3

HIncand3nza t1_ja58iv7 wrote

New Hampshire to Nicatouis? Quite the excursion for these ladies. Were they just lost? I read they had some mental disabilities.

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Definitelynotcal1gul t1_ja5iwtl wrote

It doesn't seem logical that they actually made it anywhere near NH. They were reported missing from Springfield/Topsham. Then they're found in East Hancock? So they drove like 300 miles southwest, then turned around and drove back 250 miles northeast? I mean, I suppose it's plausible, but it really weird.

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Coffee-FlavoredSweat t1_ja5k5ki wrote

The originally left Topsham, headed to the Maine Mall, but ended up lost in Massachusetts. Family tried guiding them over the phone but they ended up lost in Exeter, NH.

They called the police who tried to guide them back to Maine, and the next day they had driven clear across the state up to Springfield.

From there, they tried to get south again, but ended up in East Hancock.

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TheMrGUnit t1_ja5t006 wrote

Potentially silly question: which Springfield? There's one in every state they visited.

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dj_1973 t1_ja7u4fg wrote

They were proving that you, indeed, can't get there from here.

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20thMaine t1_ja8p4lo wrote

To be fair, if they ended up anywhere near Boston and tried to get off the highway and turn around… their infrastructure is almost designed to make you lost so… and then NH has even worse road signage.

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gretchens t1_ja7uzu8 wrote

Springfield and Topsham are hours from each other. You might be confusing Topsham with Topsfield, which IS near Springfield. (For that matter, maybe they were confusing that, too.)

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ecco-domenica t1_ja5avg0 wrote

Wonderful. It's been on my mind all day. So relieved. Bless them.

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Slmmnslmn t1_ja5aqca wrote

Glad they are home safe.

Curious about their story.

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raynedanser t1_ja5gne9 wrote

That's um... Quite the detour, but I am so glad they are safe!

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lobstah t1_ja5d2v3 wrote

Ah, a happy ending !

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Breezy207 t1_ja5jrvq wrote

I was so worried abt them-so glad they are safe!

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OniExpress t1_ja5dlj5 wrote

Wow, that is shockingly lucky. Glad they're heading home

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200Dachshunds t1_ja5fv9b wrote

Amazing! I can't wait to hear about their adventure!

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DidDunMegasploded t1_ja5wokf wrote

Damn, I was expecting the worst. Glad they're found safe!

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ohjeeze_louise t1_ja691yu wrote

Thank fucking God! I’ve been thinking of these two, hoping they’d be ok.

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gretchens t1_ja829xm wrote

Have there been any more details on how they were found? My hope, in being familiar with that area, and knowing it was a good weekend for sleds and ice fishing, was that the back roads and ITS would be fairly busy and increase the odds of discovery.

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A_Common_Loon t1_jaalhod wrote

News Center Maine interviewed the warden who found them. It’s incredible! https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/topsham-missing-women-maine-warden-service-springfield-lincoln-hancock-county/97-10ea20d4-0ead-41c7-ae4a-3dfbfccbaef8

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gretchens t1_jaao5uf wrote

Ah yea, of course it was a guy who was a classmate of my sister back in the day. Good on him, though. This is the one time they’d have been found more quickly if they’d stayed on the ITS!

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A_Common_Loon t1_jacmhzi wrote

I always say Maine is a small town. LOL

I really wonder how they ended up where they did. The warden said they had been on an ITS trail but the trail made a 90 degree turn and kept going on a logging trail, and they were found on the logging trail. I'm not familiar with that area at all, but I'm guessing it's hard to tell what road is what under the snow?

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gretchens t1_jaco7k5 wrote

Yeah, and 'logging road' can be a relatively smooth, wide gravel road or it can be two ruts in the dirt, it is so varied. GPS used to send people to my hometown on the logging roads and they'd show up in rental cars terrified they just voided the contract by the route they took! ITS and some logging roads under snow would look the same, actally ITS might look MORE like a road because they are maintained.

I'm glad they at least had the sense to NOT leave the car, that would have been an absolute death sentence.

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A_Common_Loon t1_jactlr6 wrote

I kept thinking about James Kim, who was stranded with his family and died after he left their car. I was living in Northern California when this happened and it has stuck with me. Never leave the car!

https://www.nrtoday.com/ten-years-ago-kim-family-endured-wilderness-tragedy/article_fb3a1215-29ee-5243-aa96-94d6d568d7d7.html

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gretchens t1_jae3i44 wrote

Yep, the Kim family was almost the inverse of this situation - all of the technology got them INTO the problem. I can't believe it was that long ago! I remember that one well bc my daughter was the same age as the baby, and it was too easy to imagine.

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DudlyDjarbum t1_ja5seno wrote

Great news. I hope they are ok.

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West_Ad_8279 t1_ja6651n wrote

So why are they allowed to drive??? Who’s at fault here? How many people were in danger with these two driving around?

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silverharmony t1_ja7b0d6 wrote

Maine doesn’t require driving tests every year to keep your license, and unless there is a serious medical notation there won’t be monitoring either. Just pay your fee every 6 years online and get a new one mailed. It usually takes an actual circumstance and then family intervention for a license to be taken away, and if you have the ability to predict circumstances you can probably make a lot of money saving those lives yourself. Good luck navigating the courts making your case though

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja7hr1j wrote

Such good news. Air tags asap.

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MisterMan-Maine t1_ja7wou6 wrote

No, Airtags don't do shit in the wilderness where there is no signal at all as they rely on the infrastructure of iphones and service for the iphones of which is very scarce in parts of this state. Hell there's a crapton of deadzones where I live. My house is a deadzone that gets 0 bars of service. Real proper GPS trackers are needed.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja7x45s wrote

Lincoln and Springfield have service. They aren't exactly wilderness, either. Could broadband be better? Yes. We Are working on it. As far as iPhone. You could use any reputable tagging device.

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MisterMan-Maine t1_ja7yqg7 wrote

No, I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Where they went on their journey doesn't matter for the future. Our state is a vast wilderness, what happens if this shit happens again and these two ladies end up going up a logging road into the vast wilderness of North Western Maine? Such as for example GPS Coords 46.5936801, -69.2576653? There's nothing up there for infastructure period and any tag that requires service from a phone and/or cellular service would be useless and they'd remain lost. A proper GPS Tracker that does not use Cell Service would still be able to ping the location.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja7ztgy wrote

We will have to agree to disagree. I'm holding the opinion that an airbag will be helpful. Maybe not in all places right now ( I have service in Unknown) but helpful in general. You can believe it's not helpful because they might travel somewhere without tower access. Ultimately it's up to the ladies family members.

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MisterMan-Maine t1_ja84ohb wrote

An airbag is always helpful if you get into a crash I won't disagree with that.

Okay now besides the typo joke it's up to the ladies family definitely. But there is a vast area of our state without service. You cannot deny the possibility of if this happens again they end up going into a deadzone and get lost.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja87e17 wrote

That's true. When I first moved to this town I had no service on my phone. My internet was essentially dial up. I had been with my carrier for over a decade. We had no towers to connect to. The company connected me to Canadian towers. Now, a decade later, we have our own towers and I have really fast fiber in the house. ( Not available everywhere in my town...yet) Service had improved greatly in the wilderness.

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gretchens t1_ja820ng wrote

I am familiar with the gaps in service, but I do think for people who typically travel in Topsham/Southern Maine, an airtag/ Life360/ FInd My service would have found them *before* they ended up at Nicatous. Maybe even before they ended up in Lincoln!

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lantech t1_ja8mr33 wrote

Airtags work via bluetooth. When other iphones see an airtag they log and report it. That's how airtags get tracked, they don't talk to cell towers. If you're in the woods with an airtag, and your phone is dead, there's no other phones around to track your airtag.

They were tracking them via cell tower pings but springfield was the last ping then it stopped.

A full-blown GPS tracking device could have reported exact locations and direction of travel before losing connectivity.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja8nu7t wrote

Cool. Thank you. I did not know. What about the other tracking devices. The knock off air tags on Amazon. Do they connect to androids or ??

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MisterMan-Maine t1_ja8q8g3 wrote

Those just work off Bluetooth and don't connect to any infrastructure. They pair to a single device and then that's it.

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lantech t1_ja8ry2a wrote

I gave some to my mom so she could find her ferrets when they fall asleep in a random place in the house.

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lantech t1_ja8sbef wrote

They do, but only the phone they pair with. So you can find your keys in your house.

Apple takes advantage of their "ecosystem" and uses all the iphones in the world to create a network of sorts.

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MisterMan-Maine t1_ja8qejo wrote

That is what I was saying in my reply to them originally. But I don't think they understood it.

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A_Common_Loon t1_ja872dl wrote

I’m so relieved! I was sure this would have a sad ending. I hope they are doing ok.

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rectumish t1_ja7lfof wrote

so glad their safe, so many don't have such a good outcome.

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kjimdandy t1_ja8c5bz wrote

Think they had fun? Looks like they might have!

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timothypjr t1_ja7kz2v wrote

I’m so happy. These things don’t seem to work out well usually.

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skeith9170 t1_ja8xzne wrote

UUUUUUUUuuuummphh!!!!!

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kenp5555 t1_ja88mo7 wrote

in Today's day and age, no GPS?

0

Dry_Strain7275 t1_jadaslo wrote

I think they probably had a GPS and when entering the word "Topsham" the town of "Topsfield" came up first. (That's the way my NUVI works.) Someone clicked "Go" and away they went. I think it might have been an eyesight problem on the part of the person reading the GPS.

It's always easy to second guess what should have been done, however, if I had been one of the family members when on the second call for directions I would have told them to stay where they were and gone to lead them back.

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