I consider communication a vital safety component.
So do I.
I guess the difference between you and I is, I will offer to break out an SWR meter and a volt-ohm meter which I keep in my rig if I observe someone having difficulty with their radio set (see if the person's antenna is tuned and/or grounded properly, see if the unit has sufficient 12V power getting to it, make an attempt to at least get them up & talking to the rest of the group, even suggest equipment upgrades if it is necessary).
It's a shame there are knowledgeable folk among us who aren't willing to help someone who isn't as technically-inclined, it really would help to reduce the number of times each and every one of us has to listen to someone's sub-par signal when we're out on the trails (all while avoiding the hassle of trying to get everyone in a group to sign up for radio licenses).
Anyway, enough thread derailment over this CB crap...
The reason MURS is not widely adopted by average people is because the market has not made available affordable radios. MURS radios are in fact rare and expensive. This is especially true when you compare MURS to the ubiquitous GMRS / FRS bubble pack radios which are sold everywhere.
I don't think they're that expensive... mid-high double digits (just high enough to make those that don't know anything about them consider a pair of cheaper [more limited] FRS units in a bubble pack instead).
I agree, the Baofeng units would be perfect for it also (and you don't even need to cut diodes, resisters, traces, etc. off the CPU board before it'll work on it either. Just be sure to have it set to low or mid power and set ch 1, 2, & 3 as "narrow" mode so you're legal as far as your signal output goes).
As for Wal-Mart, I think they (along with others like Target and Costco) were using those channels long before the MURS band was created (previously CH 4 & 5 were among the sequence of colored "Dot" itinerant business channels, Blue & Green to be specific). Such businesses operate under a grandfathered license, which means MURS operators legally must not to interfere with them. Fortunately when you're out in the boonies, chances are good there shouldn't be any worries about interfering with Wal-Mart lol.