Absolutely. I meant only to demonstrate it could be done without any expensive or high tech equipment. That doesn't change the fact that it is both impractical and fraught with other issues.
The real truth here is that the system of cave diving isn't really broken.There is no real problem that needs fixing. Vortex is the only cave I am aware of that has a locking gate. There could be others but it doesn't matter for sake of conversation. Other places people could drive or boat to a location and just go in. That is the real problem, not that there are lights or plastic ropes or such. People are going to go where they should not and then blame the "system". Florida courts have long held to the "Personal Responsibility" rule when it comes to scuba deaths.
There is no magic wand to fix this, or any other real life, problem. Untrained divers are going to continue to go into overheads and die. Trained cave divers are going to continue to make mistakes and die. Trained cave divers are going to go beyond their training and die. Trained divers are going to have medical issues while diving and die. Trained cave divers are going to have equipment issues (recent CCR incidents) and die. Trained cave divers are going to, flat out, violate the rules and die. Explorers are going to push limits and die. (this is the only one that actually might make any sense since we all have to die). These are the hard truths.
Adding another safety device that will be disregarded will not help. Getting back to solid training, and responsible divers will end this issue once and for all......in a perfect world. Even with a state of the art personal locator beacon / alert in a cave, a quick response is, most often, not realistic. If a cave diver, who can make a rescue, is nearby there are many dynamics involved.
1. Has a dive just been made that requires a significant surface interval by the most likely rescuer / searcher?
2. Do bottles need to be filled and or mixed with a specific bottom and travel gas. That takes time.
3. How much time has passed in the missing diver's case?
4. Bringing a body out is sometimes a monumental task. You have to deal with depth changes, buoyancy for 2, visibility, flow, size of the tunnel, condition of the lost / deceased diver (bloating and being stuck in a place, or rigor) which makes it difficult to move a victim.
We all desire to help and to stop this from happening. In this case it may have been nothing more than a medical issue, ie heart attack. It may have been diving beyond training and running out of gas trying to solve a problem. In any case it happened and it will happen again. After 20+ years as a police officer I have found life is like a train. Sometimes you have to just watch it happen and do what you can afterwards. Beyond warning people verbally there is, really, not much else we can do. We should never stop trying and we should continue to think outside of the box, because sometimes a solid practical idea does present itself.
The bottom line in scuba is this: You are responsible for your actions. I am not responsible for you unless you are my agreed upon buddy and then I am only responsible to help where I can. You are responsible for you even when you have a buddy, as your buddy's are responsible for themselves even with you there. Get the proper training and experience or be ready for someone to tell you mother, father, wife, husband, children, etc that you won't be coming home. Folks, it is not that hard of a concept. The system is not broke..... we are. The end.