You really don't seem to have a lot of sympathy for the general public, which makes me wonder why you would even care about spotting, or the public's safety at all. Your callous attitude toward the general public is amazing...it seems as if you are saying that unless they respond to a chaotic, emergency event in the manner that you feel that they should, they deserve whatever they get. Please...let me know if I am wrong. I hope that I am wrong, that I am misinterpreting what you are saying. I can't believe that somebody hold the average citizen with such little disregard.
I apologize; I wasn't too clear in my original post. I've been a bit tired and can't illustrate things out too well. Let me see if I can draw up a better outline:
1) Persons in the city in the path of a tornado, or in a city where a tornado is occurring, should seek shelter immediately. Like an above poster mentioned, if there is enough time in advance for persons to evacuate safely and orderly (as in Picher, etc.) then that is certainly a rational option.
2) BUT, if there's a tornado immediately in the vicinity, one should conduct himself in a manner that makes the situation as safe as can be possible - this means seeking safety as soon as a tornado is reported as nearby, or if not possible, escaping the path.
3) Anyone in case (2) who
panics and
runs is putting themselves and anyone they take with them into potentially a much more dangerous situation. These people are
much more of a danger to themselves and to others than spotters or chasers who, wrongly or not, run an intersection. I want to outline that these people are the fools,
not people - as I said in my post - who would be attempting to seek shelter or escape in a calm manner as possible because they're in the wrong place at the wrong time.
3) A chaser or spotter is
never justified in running an intersection if that chaser or spotter is not relaying some kind of pertinent and important information in a meaningful way, or escaping the path. Like you said, he shouldn't even be there IMO.
4) A chaser or spotter is justified in running an intersection if they are escaping the path of a tornado, or if they are relaying some kind of pertinent and important information in a meaningful way. Even then (and this is something I didn't specify), they absolutely have to make sure that they aren't going to plow into someone - especially if they're relaying information and not escaping immediate danger.
5) I'm working under the good-faith assumption here that chasers or spotters aren't going through intersections without looking at anything else but a twister, and hauling a@@ at 80mph or something. More than likely these crossroads aren't going to be packed with people, but even so, SLOW DOWN and LOOK.
Here's what I picture in my mind when I'm talking about this: a chaser or spotter following and relaying info about a tornado who is stopped at a red light, at a clean and empty intersection, waiting there for 2-3 minutes to make sure he follows the law. Nobody else is even in the area. Is he justified running this light after he's stopped for a second and looked carefully both ways? Absolutely! Is he justified plowing through at 80mph before ascertaining the situation? NEVER!
6) I'm not sure if the situation is different in your area, but in both of the states I live in, I've seen ambulances, fire trucks, and police run through intersections after slowing down to make sure they don't hit anyone or that someone oblivious doesn't jut out in front of them. Nowadays they have the ability to change lights in advance, but in the past, having the lights and the sirens going gave them the right to go through intersections. Certainly chasers and spotters don't have this right, but in my opinion a trained chaser or spotter relaying information does have the right to run a red light in a tornadic situation
if and only if it has been ascertained beforehand that doing so is right and puts nobody in danger. This does not mean truckin' it through at high speeds. But this does mean that they should not be duty-bound to sit at an empty intersection for three minutes waiting for a light to change, if the light still works.
7) A chaser or spotter is never justified in getting in the path of an emergency vehicle or operation in any way (of course).
8) The general public are certainly not held in low regard by myself or anyone else here on this board. Levying that accusation is an
ad hominem and is unnecessary, but I will answer the accusation: it is the screaming idiot like we knew in Wichita Falls that I judge harshly. Yes, people who wonder around aimlessly screaming the end of the world on the road instead of seeking shelter or evacuating calmly are human, but so was Ted Bundy; however, Ted Bundy was still an idiot.
Nonetheless, not every citizen out and about during a tornado is automatically a fool. The people running around maniacally having a panic attack with their helpless family in a car, however, are fools, and they're a much bigger hazard than a chaser or spotter running an intersection they've safely ascertained as empty.
9) Driving around in a city during a tornado presents a driving situation that has more danger than a normal driving situation. This says nothing about what people should do - only, it points out that the situation at hand is inherently more hazardous.
10) Given all of this, provided that the actions of a spotter or chaser who is calm, collected, relaying information, and aware of other drivers, and who slows enough to ascertain an intersection (IMO they should briefly stop, which takes care of following law at inactive lights at intersections anyway), such a spotter or chaser is justified in not waiting for a red light at an empty intersection during a tornadic event.
