Chaser Irresponsibility

[Jim Saueressig]

Yesterday as the tornadoes were going through Kearney a few certain chasers who were running video were running red light after red light at high rates of speed and then running the dead lights because the power was out at high rates of speed while weaving in and out of the debris in the road while trying to keep up with a tornado as it was going through town. This tornado was right in front of them by a few blocks at best by the power flashes being witnessed on camera.

If that chaser would have hit another vehicle while running any of those red lights or dead lights in that rain and tornado chaos every single chaser in here would eventually feel that pain. That is total horse **** that this was occurring yesterday in the name of catching a tornado.

Yesterdays display of the total disregard for the safety of others during a tornadic event was the most irresponsible thing I have ever seen yet by a chaser. It should not be done at any time but especially while running a publicly accessible video. If a news station or other entity that had a hard on for chasers anyway would have picked that up it could cause more bad publicity for chasers than many of you could ever imagine.

Many of you might ***** that a chaser was overrun by a tornado and that it looks irresponsible or might cause problems, you may think chaser convergence is a pain in the ass, you might think a chaser hanging out a window taking pictures or following you to the tornado is bad but If we have innocent people killed because of some irresponsible actions like I was witnessing yesterday for quite some time on a chase cam then all of these other complaints might be for nothing.

While watching these videos I have seen many stop signs ran out in the country, I have seen chasers running 100 plus down an interstate trying to catch a tornado and while these things are kind of stupid and there is a risk that it could cause an accident it doesn't compare in any way shape or form to what I witnessed in and near Kearney yesterday during a tornado emergency where chaos and confusion is already a given.

 

[Eric Treece]

Would love to see whoever did that get called out............come on oh brave and reckless chasers.........stand up and identify yourself. Not saying I am a saint here, but that sounds like stupidity in one of its finer moments. You didn't happen to video this did you? Think they will show their video at the Chaser Convention next year?

 

[Greg Ansel]

Kearney Chase

We were one of the chase teams on the Kearney tornado yesterday, and I believe we were live streaming (sometimes it's hard to tell as our internet goes in and out). Though we did not run any red lights, we did go through some intersections after the power had blown out. I think the only people on the road were the storm chasers and the local police as the locals were smart enough to stay inside. There were a few locals in vehicles, but we run with safety lights on and slow down when approaching intersections. At one point we were following a LEO who was driving down the main street in town going through those intersections with his lights flashing. I did see a few cars driving too fast and passing by us. Luckily there was very little traffic coming from the smaller sidestreets. I agree it would be very harmful for the chaser community to have an incident occur. Safety for ourselves as well as the communities we chase in is our first priority.

Greg Ansel
Team Remora

 

[Jim Saueressig]

We were one of the chase teams on the Kearney tornado yesterday, and I believe we were live streaming (sometimes it's hard to tell as our internet goes in and out). Though we did not run any red lights, we did go through some intersections after the power had blown out. I think the only people on the road were the storm chasers and the local police as the locals were smart enough to stay inside. There were a few locals in vehicles, but we run with safety lights on and slow down when approaching intersections. At one point we were following a LEO who was driving down the main street in town going through those intersections with his lights flashing. I did see a few cars driving too fast and passing by us. Luckily there was very little traffic coming from the smaller sidestreets. I agree it would be very harmful for the chaser community to have an incident occur. Safety for ourselves as well as the communities we chase in is our first priority.

Greg Ansel
Team Remora

Well Greg it was you, I wasn't going to mention names but since you spoke up i must say that you did indeed run red lights and this was witnessed by many and your desire to catch that tornado easily overrode your common sense in my opinion. You may have been in the heat of the chase being on the tail of that tornado but your driving to keep you there was extremely irresponsible. This applies to you and the other chaser you were following as you both flew through those lights. I rarely seen you slow down at all for even the dead lights.

 

[JHadorn]

We were one of the chase teams on the Kearney tornado yesterday, and I believe we were live streaming (sometimes it's hard to tell as our internet goes in and out). Though we did not run any red lights, we did go through some intersections after the power had blown out. I think the only people on the road were the storm chasers and the local police as the locals were smart enough to stay inside. There were a few locals in vehicles, but we run with safety lights on and slow down when approaching intersections. At one point we were following a LEO who was driving down the main street in town going through those intersections with his lights flashing. I did see a few cars driving too fast and passing by us. Luckily there was very little traffic coming from the smaller sidestreets. I agree it would be very harmful for the chaser community to have an incident occur. Safety for ourselves as well as the communities we chase in is our first priority.

Greg Ansel
Team Remora

While watching your stream I saw you blow through at least two red lights and every intersection where the power was out.

 

[mike scantlin]

live stream is such a wonderful tool. get the rake, and come coals.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

live stream is such a wonderful tool. get the rake, and come coals.

It is a wonderful tool but video or not those actions need to be stopped before someone pays dearly for it.

 

[mike scantlin]

i meant that in the sense that with everyone and their mom running live streams, everyone knows what everyone else is doing. so now threads like this will be commonplace and people will either

a) stop driving like complete idiots
b) stop streaming video

 

[Greg Ansel]

I apologize

Well, the cameras don't lie, so if I did run red lights, that was irresposible of me and I apologize. You are right in that it reflects poorly on the chaser community and can lead to possible problems. I will definitely reevaluate our chase techniques and try to improve on how we can be a better storm spotter. Please PM me if you have any other questions or comments. We are heading back to AZ and had a wonderful experience this year and met some great people, both chasers and locals. I think each year is a learning experience and we try to grow out of those experiences, good and bad. With more chasers and media coverage comes more responsiblity, and we will try our best to represent the chase community is a positive manner.

After reviewing the footage, I did run 2 red lights unnecessarily (at that point there was no danger from the tornado)

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Greg Ansel
Team Remora

Glad to see this being posted. This is what I have said needs to be done. When the Boneheads are out here making us all look bad, we need to call them out. It makes it even wose still that it is being broadcast to anyone that wants to see it. Makes it look bad on Severe Studios also as they provide the streaming service.
Should or when I make a stupid move and someone has it on film, please post it too.

 

[mike scantlin]

this is not directed at you alone, greg, but why have the big decals and magnets "storm spotter" or "severe storm troopers" or any of that junk? go unmarked, so that if you do drive like a dumb@ss, we dont all look like idiots. just a simple request. that is all.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

i meant that in the sense that with everyone and their mom running live streams, everyone knows what everyone else is doing. so now threads like this will be commonplace and people will either

a) stop driving like complete idiots
b) stop streaming video

I would say that A would be sufficient because the video streaming is nice for people to watch and it can be profitable.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Greg Ansel
Team Remora

Glad to see this being posted. This is what I have said needs to be done. When the Boneheads are out here making us all look bad, we need to call them out. It makes it even wose still that it is being broadcast to anyone that wants to see it. Makes it look bad on Severe Studios also as they provide the streaming service.
Should or when I make a stupid move and someone has it on film, please post it too.
Thanks Greg for helping to ruin our image.

 

[Gerard Jebaily]

I have to agree with Jim on this. While I was reluctant to make a post on ST about it, I did witness the same thing and at one point thought the LEO that pulled out in front of you guys was there to stop you for running the red lights. I do feel that what I saw was reckless and irresponsible and would represent the storm chasing community very poorly.
While we are in no way bound to any sort of rules to eachother, no chaser wants to be thought of as a "yahoo" and with the recent incident in SW Texas, we are being examined closer than ever at our ethics and respect for the community. Another incident in such close proximity would permanently label stormchasers as nothing but thrill seekers with no care or respect for laws and the safety of the citezens we are trying to protect.
My record isnt perfect either, I have a bad habit of running ~10mph over the speed limit when on a chase. But I think it's going to have to be up to the chaser community to keep eachother check so that one of us doesnt ruin it for us all.

If many people thought my chasing methods are making the chasing community look bad, and that my chasing is causing more added danger by being there, than help to the community, i would hope they would all speak up. Remember that the most dangerous part of stormchasing, isnt usually the storm. Its always been the driving and other drivers. Which is why we need to be more focused on our driving than on the storm. 100+ people are watching a dangerous storm that we have no control over, but only one person is in control of a potentially dangerous vehicle that needs to be under strict control.
I think all we are asking in general here is to please be more respectful to the law, the local community, and eachother so that unforseen consequences are not going to put more lives in danger and taint the image of the storm chasing community.

 

[Greg Ansel]

video

Not to make this worse, but we were told that we had a record number of people streaming our video yesterday. So it makes the situation even worse in the sense that it portrays us as irresponsible yahoos. Again, a learning experience and I am sorry. No excuse.

Greg