I think you need to go back and read my post again. I think you misunderstood it.
I have been hiking for 51 years. Worked as a paramedic, in an ER, SAR, etc. Investigated quite a few hiking incidents like Maverick's friend. Had the unpleasant experience of explaining to families that their loved one died. Have taken families of dead hikers to the accident site and explained what happen. Always a bad experience. I also run a web site to help people have a better experience and do it safely as possible. Has a gigabyte of hiking information. Cost me about 10 grand a year. So as you can see, I didn't fall off the boat yesterday.
Where I live we have registration boxes at every trail head. People are suppose to register their hike. It only collects minimal information, and takes less then a minute to do. We go out of our way to try to get people to register and register correctly. It is on almost all our hikes posted on our web site. But, people just don't want to register. 90% of people REFUSE to register. Those who do, often put in false names, or refuse to put in their phone number. Even refuse to register where they are going hiking. Check out this:
Here is a guy who registered as "Bugs Bunny". Let me make a note about this registration. He registered the hike for Huckleberry Point instead of Devil's Kitchen. Devil's Kitchen and Hell's Hole is one of the most dangerous places on earth to hike. Hundreds of people have been killed there. Now for the final note: Someone in his party was killed 10 minutes after the registration. I spent a lot of time with his daughters explaining what happen.
Here is a registration book. I blocked the names and phone number. If you look closely, only two people put their phone numbers in. Other people refused to tell Rangers where they were going. Others lied about where they were going.
As for Maverick's Form. This idea isn't new. We tried it too. Out of 500,000 visitors we have each year, NO ONE used the Form we created. Finally, we removed it from the site. People just refuse to provide information.
As for the Maverick's Form being capable of handling every location. I disagree. Every region has different dangers. Some dangers are not so obvious. For example, GNP has a danger of Grizzly bears and Mtn Lions. Bear spray is important. But, some people don't carry it. It would be a very important question for SAR and Rangers. In Northeast most hiking occurs in the Winter. The clothing list becomes very important. Hiking the Pres Range requires good wind and cold clothing. In the Southwest, the amount of water you are carrying is very important. Having hiked the Sierra Mtn, I think Maverick's Form works well there, but not so much in other regions.
I would like to make a suggestion. I would make the form a downloadable Word document. People can then customize it for their needs. I would have two Forms. One for summer to address the needs of minimalist, and one for Winter where I would have different questions. Some people also plan out their hike well in advance (Todd for example). Other people, like me, figure out where they are going to hike on the way to the mountains. People like me, will fill it out at the TH. There are a lot of people like me.
If there was a region of the country that might actually use the form, it would be 13ers and 14ers. For some reason they have a different attitude. Can't tell you why.
I personally, always register for my hikes. I put a sheet in my car. And, I carry a PLB which is registered with the important information with NOAA.
I certainly hope you can get people in the Sierra's to use your Form. While I find it valuable, other people don't. I hope this explains my original post better.