If anything good can come out of this tragedy I hope it's that people will be more careful about traveling, especially in rural areas.  Here in Southern Oregon, logging roads can be treacherous on a sunny day in the middle of August.  That week must have been hell for them.  Unless you're very familiar with the area please stay on the well marked interstates and highways.  The logging roads around here are damn near a literal spider web of narrow, cliff side trails.  Most are so narrow that those big log haulers have to back down the mountains, sometimes for dozens of miles. 

It might seem like getting home on schedule is important.  but as we've now learned, some things are more important.