Chase behavior on the road

[fplowman]

We all come up on these fellas .. Rather we are on a storm or not.. other than the lights of course.

I think this call the cops, call the cops mentality is somewhat freightening. The do gooders of society of course who stir trouble and call the cops if someone steps on their lawn or looks funny or drives like we would not like them to create more problems for society in my opinion.

Funny how we all see things differently.. I see calling the police as inviting the devil into my life. I have never came away with a good experience when dealing with them. Only time i would even consider calling law enforcement is in the event that Im victimized by a violent crime or theft.

We certainly should discourage crazy driving in the chaser community. But taking the time to call the police and make reports is somewhat as crazy as the crazy driving IMO.

My 2 c

Fred

 

[PaulChambers]

Personally, I think notifying law enforcement of ANY unsafe drivers is a good idea. Also, if the word gets out that these reports are being made, it may make some drivers think twice about driving unsafely. Also, once law enforcement officers and agencies realize that chasers are making the reports, they may take a different look at the chasers and their activities and understand that MOST chasers ARE trying to act safely and responsibly.

 

[rdale]

"Also, if the word gets out that these reports are being made, it may make some drivers think twice about driving unsafely."

Again - these drivers are not part of the chase community. So 1) they probably won't get word of this "push" to report and 2) even if they did hear about it, do you honestly think they would care?

"once law enforcement officers and agencies realize that chasers are making the reports"

When dispatchers send out a reckless driver note, they don't add on what the caller is doing. So nobody will have the faintest idea that chasers are reporting yahoos...

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I agree with rdale, they will not know who called in the report. It could make us look even worse if law enforcement officers are finding themselves pulling more chasers over for wreckless driving than before.

Me personally, I just worry about myself. I don't like wreckless chasers, but I'm certainly not going to call it in every time I see a speeding chaser. I see non-chasers doing the same thing almost on a weekly basis.

 

[fplowman]

Yes and the explosion of chaser related reckless driving will accelerate Law Enforcement and state representatives to make laws regarding storm chasing...

Hoooray.. Hooray for the do gooders.. Horray..

Warning to all of those that live in glass houses.. There are citizen police amongst us. shhhhhh, "secret police".. lol

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Personally, I'd just pick up the phone and start calling 911 to report a police impersonator. Cops don't like impersonators. Give them a license plate (or just describe the vehicle, they prolly have a pretty good idea) and turn 'em loose.
[/b]

Heh, and now's not a good time to be an impersonator in SE Nebraska. Cops around here are on the lookout for one that's been pulling people over for the past month. My guess is that whoever was running the lights would have been hauled in after a felony stop had someone bothered to call 911.

 

[Sean McMullen]

I saw that car with the lights, we thought that might have been a cop as well, so you know what we did? That's right, we passed his sorry a@#!

It's kinda funny, we get these systems throwing 60mph storms at us all spring and we keep finding posts about chasers speeding. I wonder if it's a coincidence?

And Damon Poole, it just takes a minute to get a licsense plate # and call the cops?! What storms are you chasing? I'm lucky if I get to call in the tornado let alone write down a chaser's tag # while I'm going 70mph down a wet road.

Do yourself a favor, keep both your hands on the wheel and your eye's on the road. Wouldn't that be ironic if a chaser got in a wreck because he was trying to write down someone's tag # on a chase?

Wow, I'm asking too many questions here, somebody help me.

 

[Bryce Stone]

Okay, so I'm as tired of this subject as the next person. However, I do feel that the topic is important, so I'll chime in.

Damon wrote:
It only takes a minute to get a license plate or a description, and it takes no longer to phone in this type of report to the police, than it does to call in a spotter report to the NWS. Both should be of equal priority, because in both cases lives and property may be at stake.

I disagree. There has never been a documented case since the chasing pioneers began of a reckless chaser killing someone else. While there have been sporadic reports of property damage (mostly broken fences or ruts in someone's yard), I sincerely doubt that property is at as great a risk from damage by chasers as damage by storms. By the way, unless an officer personally witnesses the action (or unless you have video), the offender cannot be ticketed. Therefore, calling a license plate in and saying you saw them passing in a no-passing zone will be a waste of your time and my tax dollars.

I have to agree that all this do-gooder activity would probably end up hurting chasing in the long run more than it would help. I postulate that chasers are actually probably more aware and safe than almost any other type of driver, due to the conditions we drive in on a regular basis (also more distracted at times than other drivers :unsure: ). Anyway, my point is that unless someone has seriously endangered another person's life, there's no call for us to run and tattletale to law enforcement every time a chaser forgets to use a turn signal.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Again - these drivers are not part of the chase community. So 1) they probably won't get word of this "push" to report and 2) even if they did hear about it, do you honestly think they would care?[/b]

Can we be absolutely certain that the offending drivers are not be subscribed to this or other popular chase forums? At least one of the names that were mentioned on the locked thread does have a connection to ST.org. Perhaps the message can be passed on indirectly.

It should be made known to these idiots that they are not welcome in the circle of responsible and ethical chasers. Do anything we can to publicize their reckless behavior, and then see what happens. In fact, the media might even play up that kind of angle in a story - a feud between two chaser camps. Surely, the camp that respects safety and demonstrates how they return service back to the community will outshine the macho idiots only in it to draw attention to themselves.

BTW - I'm of the opinion that the moderators should not have locked the original thread. Any chance to publicize reckless chaser behavior should be allowed in this forum, especially since the majority of ST subscribers fall into the ethical camp of chasers. The reckless chaser certanly drew attention to themselves by promoting his video to the media with his name plastered all over it.

 

[Edward Ballou]

It should be made known to these idiots that they are not welcome in the circle of responsible and ethical chasers. Do anything we can to publicize their reckless behavior, and then see what happens. In fact, the media might even play up that kind of angle in a story - a feud between two chaser camps. Surely, the camp that respects safety and demonstrates how they return service back to the community will outshine the macho idiots only in it to draw attention to themselves.
[/b]

Sounds like a great movie idea!!!


...sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Sounds like a great movie idea!!!
...sorry, couldn't resist. [/b]

Of course, in "that movie", both camps were equally irresponsible. In fact, the "chasers in the dark minivans" never did drive across farmer's fields or purposely into tornadoes!

 

[Edward Ballou]

I guess my point is that we're all at one point or another, guilty of being irresponsible. The use of lightbars, justiculating, speeding, passing aggressively, not paying attention, or profane speech - we've all done something that someone else could get mad at.

You can't change someone's view of storm chasing morality, much moreso morality of life.

No amount of public crucifixion is going to change how they conduct themselves. Go ahead, wave your "angry banner" and hope someone takes notice.

I chase to sit in awe of nature and for my personal enjoyment. I'm not going to let someone who's being irresponsible spoil doing what I love. So to those who are irresponsible, go on your merry way and have a nice day - I hope you feel good when you lay your head down at night.

my .02

 

[C Brian Batey]

I guess my point is that we're all at one point or another, guilty of being irresponsible.
[/b]

Not necessarily.

Personally, getting all frenetic about a chase is the last thing that some of us care to do. When I'm 'on chase', I'm not in the office. I'm generally in some rural area where I've never been. Storms or no storms, that's a great way to spend an afternoon. No schedule. No deadlines. Living on the schedule of a chaotic atmosphere.

I'm not doing serious research. Nobody's paying me to 'find them a tornado'. No reason to get nuts about anything.

If folks not taking in at least some of the 'non-storm' experience of chasing, they're really missing out. If folks are out breaking the law and/or endangering the safety of others, rat them out. It's just that simple. Many other 'fringe' hobbies have been legislated due to the behaviour of a reckless minority. Don't let this happen to chasing.

The only way to keep chasing unregulated is to consistantly show that it doesn't need to be.

brianb

 

[Rob Herman]

You might get away with speeding most of the time, but if someone is hurt or killed. You will pay big time!

 

[rdale]

"I guess my point is that we're all at one point or another, guilty of being irresponsible. "

I'm going to have to raise my hand in protest to that one... It's one thing to speed - it is another to speed irresponsibly. It's one thing to have a lightbar on for protection along the side of the road - it's another to use it so people pull off the highway.

What these people did was irresponsible. I imagine there are many of us who haven't even come close to approaching that level.