The most important lesson in James Kim's death is..

..when lost, stay put.

I applaud James Kim's mother's attempt to optimize the ability to located stranded motorists, but the fact remains, if James had stayed with his car, he'd be alive today. The number one rule is to stay put and work on getting yourself rescued. Especially when you're so poorly prepared to trek through the wilderness as James was. James tried this, but gave up hope a day or two too soon.