Reckless Driving?

[David Drummond]

I have video just about every news station marked chase vehicle in OK doing the same thing Matt, it's not uncommon.

I have passed a few myself.

That reminds me. People, if your gonna get right up close under the wall cloud. When it's time to move, MOVE....don't piddle around at 20 mph under there. Things happen fast and I have nearly got myself caught in something nasty from trying to move out of the way and another chaser driving way TOO SLOW. If you want to stay under there and get taken out, at least pull off the road and let the rest of us get out of it's way.

 

[David Schuttler]

We need to address this slow driving too

 

[fplowman]

I had someone pass me once in a no passing zone..

I couldnt sleep for days .. And then finally to gain satisfaction I contacted all media outlets and law enforcement to tell them I was passed at high speed in a no passing zone.

This lead to feelings of comfort and satisfaction. I then resumed normal sleeping patterns and was better able to deal with life more easily on a day to day basis.

[smiley/]Marty Feldman googley Eyed Smiley [smiley]

 

[Matthew Crowther]

I think we may be dealing with two separate but related issues- bad behavior/driving by chasers
and what I think may be a more dangerous problem- the sheer # of people out on the road. Check out this article from the Hutchison newpaper:http://www.hutchnews.com/news/regional/stories/trackers042607.shtml. For a weekday in a large severe risk area before the true heart of chase season I was frankly shocked by how many chasers were on this storm. I shudder to think what will happen on a Memorial Day weekend.
I really believe that the total # of chasers is exploding almost exponentially due in most part to the internet. People learn about the hobby on the web and see great video and photos and that makes them want to try it out-
and then the explosion of in-vehicle technology makes it much easier to find the correct storm than in "the old days". The combination of having more and more chasers each year
and the relative ease of tracking and intercepting storms is going to perhaps ruin this hobby we all love- I am not sure if it will be through legislation or what, but I am not sure if storm chasing can take this sort of increase for many more years without some sort of bad outcome.

 

[Jay Cazel]

I found this artical from the Wichita paper about the Reno Co. storm.
Talks about all the storm chasers around Nickerson.

http://www.kansas.com/197/story/53791.html


I just want to add that all the chasers that I saw did a fine job staying out of the majoir traffic areas, stayed well off the main roads and parked far enough off the road so others could pass.

 

[Shane Adams]

I think the purpose of threads like this is to simply vent. We're all jerkoffs out there at sometime or another. Even the most well-respected, decorated, degreed chasers are madmen in the heat of the battle. It's human nature. I yell at people sometimes, and I'm sure sometimes they yell at me. They don't care and neither do I. I've never done anything seriously, life-threatening dangerous, but I have broken some laws of the road where anyone who witnessed what I was doing would say "Will ya look at that dumb SOB"....and they'd have every right to say so.

I have two rules...(1) Don't walk into/in front of my shot...(2) Don't block me in when you pull over and stop. As long as these two aren't broken, I can deal with the rest. I'm very environment-aware when around a ton of other chasers, so that's not a big issue for me. I work in Dallas, so I'm used to being around tons of idiots while driving on a daily basis...no problem. My deal is personal space...please stay away from my vidcam and don't park so that I can't leave when I'm ready to leave.

These threads will go on forever, as will the in-fightning and bickering and all of that. Just human beings venting, and we all take turns being the a$$hole on the road.

 

[David Drummond]

Check out this article from the Hutchison newpaper:http://www.hutchnews.com/news/regional/stories/trackers042607.shtml.

A couple of statements out of that I found a bit amusing:

During the hour or so the storm moved over Nickerson, spotters encountered difficulty driving to their assigned locations - dozens of curious onlookers blocked their way.

"It creates too many problems," Guy said. "The way those things were coming down, we didn't know where they were going to drop. It's a miracle no one got hurt, especially with the number of people out on the streets."

Makes you sorta wonder just how "trained" those spotters were eh? I think just about all of the storm chasers that were there had a pretty darn good idea where they were going to drop.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Makes you sorta wonder just how "trained" those spotters were eh?

OH NO! Now we're going back to that "discussion"?

 

[David Drummond]

Just reading between the lines Bob....just reading between the lines.

 

[Danny Murphy]

Just remember when out chasing, that it takes just one little accident to get someone seriously injured or killed just because someone was trying to get a better view of a storm. A serious injury or death would really put a black eye on storm chasers and make reliable storm chasers look like ambulance chasers. Everyone....slow down and take it easy before it is too late, that includes tour companies and individual storm chasers.

 

[David Drummond]

If I put flags on the corners of the fender with thunderstorm symbols on it and put STORM CHASING AMBASSADOR on the side, does that mean I can have diplomatic immunity?

 

[Jay McCoy]

We're all jerkoffs out there at sometime or another. Even the most well-respected, decorated, degreed chasers are madmen in the heat of the battle. It's human nature. I yell at people sometimes, and I'm sure sometimes they yell at me.

I remember a time back in western Oklahoma a few years ago on one chase that somebody was holding David up on a 2 lane road but David didnt want to honk or yell at this "hot girl" in the car in front of us (i was driving behind him). I will always remember Davids reaction we he realized who it actually was..lol. Good thung David didnt blow "her" a kiss huh Shane...

Now thats a classic chase!!

And David the only thing you need immunity from is lightning!!!!!geez.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Well, it's nice to see some light-heartedness. 'scuse me, what's the topic again?

 

[David Drummond]

In my defense, all I could see was the long blonde hair at the time.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

Speaking of reckless driving, there was an email sent to every mass media group in Tulsa today complaining about a RED FORD RANGER (tag numbers were given) that was passing people at way over the speed limit yesterday. The complaint also stated that they were passing on the shoulder and in no passing zones. The person who wrote an email that stated that the driver was flashing his lights, honking at others on the road as he flew by. This really makes us look bad especially when there are SKYWARN stickers pasted all over the place....
This needs to stop as these people are putting the public at more risk than the storms in their area....

I know who this guy was. I can guarantee he is NOT media.

 

[Mark Sudduth]

You have to see this- a true testament

It's a long story, but I usually am the "hurricane guy" and rarely go out to the Alley. But this week, I gave it a shot. I have begun to stream live video during hurricane missions and it works quite well. I wanted to try it during a chase for one or two days- and it too worked very well. More on how later.

I wanted to share with everyone the archived WMV that gets stored when I stream live. I was on the phone with Mike Theiss while he was near Nickerson and he saw the tornado touch down. I was in Wichita at the time and decided to go for it and head to McPherson to intercept the storm- what the heck. I turned on my live stream somewhere along I-135 north and let it run for the duration of the chase. Since I am WAY new at this, and was driving a rental, I took great care to not speed too much- 5 over, tops. If you want a good laugh at what a freshman tornado chaser went through while trying to negotiate a small Kansas town, then this video is for you. It is as colorful as could be without a single curse word- I think. Several of my colleagues were watching the live stream back East and were laughing their butts off at my folly of trying to blast west to catch the soon-to-die storm. I caught no tornadoes those two days but was able to prove that live streaming video using the Internet, not satellite or microwave, was possible- and sometimes humourous. I now have a great sense of appreciation for what the seasoned chasers go through time after time.

Note: download it first by right-clicking and then scroll the time line over to about 10 minutes in and let it roll from there.

www.hurricanetrack.com/stormpics/april24.wmv

 

[Eric Whitehill]

On 4/24/2007 there were vehicles out there in C KS flashing anything they possibly could, long after the storm gusted out... I also noticed some displaying flashing blue and orange lights - but obviously not LE vehicles. What the heck do you need those things flashing for... attention. That's it. But these lights do the intended trick. When you see them behind you obviously wanna try to get out of the way... just to see a yahoo kid behind the wheel passing by...where is this whole thing going to...
Hopefully not to a day where locals are going to throw rocks at chasers every time they see them approach their town...
Not trying to start another light bars discussions here.

As Chris Novy states-

"Light bars do not alter the laws of physics."

 

[Earl Faubion]

As Chris Novy states-
"Light bars do not alter the laws of physics."

A veteran cop was heard telling his rookie partner, "Son, flippin' on those fancy lights don't make you Moses at the Red Sea."

 

[afischer]

I didn't seem to run into many chasers at all on April 24 in Reno county due to being mostly stationary at a single intersection on gravel roads, so I don't know how congested it was elsewhere at this time. However, I came up on quite a circus after dark on my way back toward McPherson, including a DOW and the TIV or whatever that big tin can is. At least one other vehicle appeared to be simply parked in the middle of the highway, with its occupant standing outside. I didn't even try to figure out why... was just happy that after waiting a couple of minutes that I was able to get through.

 

[mark plate]

We didn't see the big chaser convergence either...being that we were late and approached the storm from the southeast instead of following it all the way from Nickerson. Still I thought we'd see a bunch in McPherson after dark when we stopped to eat, but we didn't...don't know where they all disappeared to...

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I didn't want to throw a fellow stormtrack regular under the bus, but I have decided to do it after witnessing multiple incidents of wreckless behavior.
Monday on the Protection KS storm I saw David Wolfson "virtually" blocking the road in front of me on highway 160. I sent him a PM that night telling him that if I saw him do that again I was going to drag his "virtual" ass out of the car and beat him like a rented mule.
Well, then again on Tuesday I came across him on the McPherson storm. Once again he had parked his "virtual" car right in the middle of the road like it was his own personal driveway. As I pulled up I saw him throw a "virtual" beer can in the ditch and grab a fresh one out of a cooler in the passenger seat (which apparently was his chase partner for the day). Before I had a chance to approach him he threw his full "virtual" beer at the windshield of my car and sped away. I didn't see him again until I was approaching Nickerson from the West. I was going pretty fast, but from what I could tell he was "virtually" standing behind the DOW with his "virtual" pants around his ankles waiving his arms and yelling at what appeared to be Josh Wurman.
I witnessed all these "virtual" events first hand and I have "virtual" video to back it up. I hope you read this David, because the next time I catch you doing something like that I am going to give you the "virtual" ass beating I promised you the first time.

 

[David Wolfson]

Airing the dirty laundry again, eh? At least you collected that from the chase. LOL.

... And I replied that now I know who the a**hole was who sped past me on the left side of the internet way over the data limit.

 

[Tom Romero]

That's "virtually" the best laugh I've had all day.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I better clarify because I got one PM because somebody wasn't familiar with David's "virtual" chasing. I wouldn't want to realistically make David look like a drunken ass due to his bad "virtual" behavior. Here is one of David's many posts on the progress of his virtual chasing this season...

"I'm virtually blasting through the mess near Seneca, KS, trying to get east to Hiawatha sometime after 22Z, watch the screen, and hopefully get lucky along the front. Will go as far as St. Jo as indicated and call it a night.

This is one day it pays to virtual-chase IMHO...."

 

[Brian Emfinger]

I didn't want to throw a fellow stormtrack regular under the bus, but I have decided to do it after witnessing multiple incidents of wreckless behavior.
Monday on the Protection KS storm I saw David Wolfson "virtually" blocking the road in front of me on highway 160. I sent him a PM that night telling him that if I saw him do that again I was going to drag his "virtual" ass out of the car and beat him like a rented mule.
Well, then again on Tuesday I came across him on the McPherson storm. Once again he had parked his "virtual" car right in the middle of the road like it was his own personal driveway. As I pulled up I saw him throw a "virtual" beer can in the ditch and grab a fresh one out of a cooler in the passenger seat (which apparently was his chase partner for the day). Before I had a chance to approach him he threw his full "virtual" beer at the windshield of my car and sped away. I didn't see him again until I was approaching Nickerson from the West. I was going pretty fast, but from what I could tell he was "virtually" standing behind the DOW with his "virtual" pants around his ankles waiving his arms and yelling at what appeared to be Josh Wurman.
I witnessed all these "virtual" events first hand and I have "virtual" video to back it up. I hope you read this David, because the next time I catch you doing something like that I am going to give you the "virtual" ass beating I promised you the first time.

that was great! lol I really thought you were able to lay into someone!

edit: and btw those virtual chases are cool