Chaser Safety on Wet Roads

[Ben Prusia]

During my chase on Sunday (which I did not see a tornado... darn...), I nearly missed running into the back of a semi that was skidding on both lanes of wet pavement on I-70 east of Odessa, MO. There were at least 9-10 cars/trucks that I have seen in the median of the roadway between Odessa and Boonville all the result of sliding off of the roadway due to the slick conditions. If not for the guard cable that was in the middle of I-70, no telling how much more serious these accidents could have been.

Of the noticeable spinouts of vehicles onto the middle of the highway included a storm chaser, I believe the back of the pickup truck said "blownawaytours.com", a chaser from Lee's Summit, MO. The pickup slid off of the roadway and was facing the opposite direction in the ditch. I was passed by this truck (their speed was at least 75-80) while I was heading east on I-70 at Oak Grove. There were also a badly damaged car at Concordia that spun out, and 2 instances of trucks spinning out, one parked in the median of I-70 near Higginsville, and the other which overturned and blocked the westbound lanes of I-70 at Milepost 91 (which might have been due to the wind/possible tornado that passed through here).

All I want to say with respect for the upcoming season is slow down. A lot of these areas in Missouri had not received rain in over a month and the combination of oil from the cars and the rain made the roadway very slick. The same conditions can be possible in Oklahoma (with the lack of rain down there) soon also, so just slow down, Sure the guard cable on I-70 prevented many accidents from becoming serious but when a high risk day is put out and storms were hastily moving, I think a lot of people are taking chances with not only their own lives, but countless others also, just to get in front of the fast moving storms.

I was passed by countless chasers going east on I-70, many going 80-85+ in wet conditions, and it was really not called for.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Absolutely. I've seen a lot of this first-hand as well. Even with good tires, if you're pushing 70+ on wet roads it's almost as bad as driving 50+ on snow. Very heavy rain with standing water can be as bad as ice as far as the ease of losing control. Once you start to fishtail at those speeds you won't regain control. Go to Google video and type in 'rally crashes' to see what I mean. Those cars are built for performance and control but even those skilled drivers can't keep them on the road when it is wet.

Wet roads have already proven fatal for chasers, and I think that second to distracted driving, they are actually one of the biggest dangers we face when chasing.

 

[Joe Guerra]

Yeah, driving 70+ on wet roads is an accident waiting to happen. I have tires only a month or 2 old, and even then i've slipped once in rain and locked it up a few times in snow. Now, its not like i'm Dale Earnhardt, nor do i drive 30, but if people just use good judgement while chasing (others on the road too), it shouldn't be a problem to avoid accidents.

 

[Tyler Allison]

If you see someone off the road one of two things has happened:

- They drove beyond their ability
- They drove beyond the ability of their equipment

Some people can do 80+ in the rain because their equipment and skill are supier to most. (note..not me)

So what's the key?

- Know the limit of your abilities and stay below them. Just because the guy ahead of you did 80 around a corner does *NOT* mean you can (see rules above). Take the curve at the speed *YOU* can take the curve.

- Know the limit of your equipment. Is your equipment in top condition? New/good tires? All wheel drive? *If* you were good enough...*could* your equipment handle the corner at 80+.

- Know the limit of your abilities and equipment in the conditions you are in and adjust accordingly.

But, no mater how good of a driver you are your equipment can not compenstate for your stupidity.

I believe people think that everyone (or at least themselves) was born a professional race car drive. Take a driving class and prove to yourself how much you suck

**Short story about my self inflicted driving class**
I consider myself a fairly good drive...not "race car quality mind you" and was on a back road that just screamed to me....push the edge...I was very familiar with every curve and knew what to expect, the weather was perfect and there were no "blind" areas. So I was crossing lanes, breaking into turns and accelerating out of them....etc. Until I came to a sharp left turn. I was accelerating up to the turn and then hit the brakes and turned the wheel.....that's when I started to wet my pants because the car was sliding towards the guard rail. (it was sorta a T intersection) After I came to a stop I said to myself..."self...you just learned a valuable leason about your abilities and this car...take it a notch back...that's the best you can do"

 

[Dick McGowan]

Blownawaytours.com was featured tonight on 41 NBC news special edition of weathert. (Their footage).

 

[Angie Norris]

I'd guess all of us have been guilty of speeding at some time or another, but chasing is not the time or place for such irresponsibilty. We're already driving in less than ideal conditions due to the combinations of road conditions, poor visibilty, and being less than focused on the road. Combine that with drivers (usually locals)who are not as experienced in driving in poor road conditions and people (locals AND other chasers) who are wandering around not paying attention to their surroundings, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster. It's not enough to acknowledge your limitations...you've also got to acknowledge it's the other people who can complicate the situation. It's like I used to tell my young one...I trusted him (well, up to a point)...it's the other fools out there that I didn't trust. Same thing here....I know that flooding, lightning, wind, hail, and rain are part of the hazards of chasing, and I know my limitations. It's those other people out there that I don't trust, and make (to me, anyway) the greatest hazard we face as chasers. It's simple people.....SLOW DOWN! What's more important...getting the shot of a lifetime or living to tell about it???
I think Dave Hoadley said it pretty well Saturday...if you're speeding to get to your storm, it's a sign of poor forecasting/planning. No storm is worth risking your life or the lives of others for.
Ok, getting off the soap box now. Let's all be careful out there.
Angie

 

[David Drummond]

If you see someone off the road one of two things has happened:

- They drove beyond their ability
- They drove beyond the ability of their equipment
[/b]

I would add one more to the list, that to a point can be mitigated by better planning, but sometimes mother natures catches us all by surprise, and the other one I would add is:

- Being blown off road by a wind event.

I have had it happen, and seen it happen to other drivers, where strong straight line winds have pushed cars off to the side of the road many times. Nothing that was really their fault other than being at the right place at the wrong time.

 

[Tyler Allison]

I would add one more to the list, that to a point can be mitigated by better planning, but sometimes mother natures catches us all by surprise, and the other one I would add is:

- Being blown off road by a wind event.

I have had it happen, and seen it happen to other drivers, where strong straight line winds have pushed cars off to the side of the road many times. Nothing that was really their fault other than being at the right place at the wrong time.
[/b]

True...I've seen that in the Grape Vine between Los Angeles and Bakersfield.

I guess I ignored "mother nature" since she can overcome anything we feel like trying

 

[John Diel]

We've seen this discussion before, and it bears bringing it up again. Good points for all!

After 17 years of driving emergency vehicles of ALL types in almost all road conditions, I can tell you from experience that each vehicle has it's own quirks. I once drove an older Crown Victoria with a broken A Frame at a Law Enforcement Driving class and came out on the top side with no issues. I know for a fact that I can change 4 lanes of traffic at 70 mph in the space of a car length and a half. Would I try this in my truck? Not on your life! Can I take a 90 degree corner at 60? Depends on the vehicle. Yes, it can be done. I did it once in a Taurus. Tried again later in my truck and darn near ended up in a wheat field. That was on dry warm pavement! I wouldn't even attempt it on wet roads.

Always think ahead. Always be thinking about the other guy and what he is going to do as opposed to what he actually does. The faster your speed, the further ahead you have to think about. Watch your spacing. If the guy ahead of you slams on his brakes, are you going to end up with Ford tatooed all over the front end? Just like chasing, have an escape route. Bite the ditch if you have to. It beats the heck out of a collision.

Remember, we have many more road miles under our belts than the average Joe Driver. However, that doesn't always translate to we are more safe. We are driving under bad road conditions, adrenalin pumping our heart rates up, looking at all sorts of gadgets, and trying to pay attention to the storm.

Now, I'll get off my safety Soap Box here. Have fun! Drive safe and friendly. Catch that Tube!!!

 

[David Drummond]

You know this is a good arguement for having a chase vehicle as opposed to renting one. I know I am VERY comfortable with my Windstar and what I can and can't do with it. Been chasing in Windstars for a few years now aside from that POS Plymouth I had in 2004. I drive it every day and have been in all sorts of conditions with it. I know how it handles in what, and how to make it do what I want. On the other hand, when we chase in my partners Tahoe, I am much less comfortable with it than I am my van. Even though it's a more substantial vehicle, I don't drive it often enough to have the comfort level to put it through it's paces like I can my Windstar.

I can't image jumping in rental car to go chasing. A vehicle I know nothing about, don't know how it was driven or taken care of, and possible never drove the same make/model vehicle before.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

For those of you who haven't been on the board long, Stormtrack lost one of its own, Jeff Wear (memorial page) about 8 months ago; he hydroplaned while coming back from chasing Hurricane Dennis.

I do know that the closest I ever came to biting the big one was, what else, hydroplaning. May 15, 1995, Shannon and I were trailing some storms after dark on eastbound I-20 near Big Spring. The freeway was absolutely full of "black ice" sheets of water, and they kept getting worse... I slid at 60 mph and went about a foot from going off the freeway. I have a profound respect for the dangerous oddities of the pavement on I-20, assuming it's still in the same state it was in then.

I've had a few close calls with cattle standing on farm-to-market roads at night in the Wichita Falls - Vernon area. Gene Rhoden had a similar experience there with Tim M. several years back. That area seems notorious for that kind of thing.

Tim

 

[Eric Graham]

I'm suprised no one has brought the subject up about tailgating especially on wet roads (I personally don't do it in fear of rearending the vehicle in front of me,) but on numerous occasions I've had near collisions because people drive way to close. I hate slamming on my brakes to get the guy behind me to back off. What do you guys do to deter tailgating or is there no simple way to deter it? Just thought I'd ask.

 

[Sean McMullen]

Regarding those guard rails Ben that you think might have saved a bunch of lives. Yeah, those guard rails damn near got thousands of people killed when I-70 westbound got shut down. Nobody had any way to turn around as numerous tornadic supercells headed right for them. I got this on video because at the time I was driving by it I noticed what a deadly situation it was.

And also, I can bet I was probably one of those chasers that blew by you. You think I'm gonna do the speed limit when I got a tornadic supercell that just dropped a half mile wide tornado in Sedalia coming up from my southwest at 50+mph! I don't think so, I was even trying to get the locals to speed up because I didn't want them to get rolled by that storm either. There's times when wreckless driving is unneccesary and then there's times when you don't want to get killed. I don't chase so I can go on some sunday drive to sightsee, chasing is fast, intense, and most of the time extremely dangerous. Throw in a high risk day that gave the 74 superoutbreak a run for it's money and you're gonna get a whole lot of chasers flying around the target area.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be hostile, but we've been over this subject already and frankly I'm tired of it. Nobody's gonna stop speeding just because they read it on ST, yes we know speeding is bad, but so are tornadoes.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Throw in a high risk day that gave the 74 superoutbreak a run for it's money and you're gonna get a whole lot of chasers flying around the target area.
[/b]

I think it's always good to have a reminder that the most dangerous thing we have to face in the field involves road hazards. Between wet or muddy roads, chasers not pulling completely off the roadway, or general aggressive behavior (aggressive passing, pulling out in front of others, etc), I think the threats we face during driving exceed those that we will likely see from the storm. There may be times when it may not be AS bad to speed as it would be otherwise (and some of those times may not be completely preventable), but it's still dangerous. And for the sake of the record, I think 3/12 pales in comparison to the Super Outbreak. Last I checked, the tornado count was up to 31 (w/o St. Louis NWSFO tornadoes)... The 113 tornadoes in the Storm reports will probably end up being 40-50 verified tornadoes. That's ~30-35% of the Super Outbreak tornadoes...

 

[Robert Dewey]

I'm suprised no one has brought the subject up about tailgating especially on wet roads (I personally don't do it in fear of rearending the vehicle in front of me,) but on numerous occasions I've had near collisions because people drive way to close. I hate slamming on my brakes to get the guy behind me to back off. What do you guys do to deter tailgating or is there no simple way to deter it? Just thought I'd ask.
[/b]

I'd like to second this, as it seems to be my biggest problem. I notice people that tailgate right after a storm with wet roads (and in most cases, lots of puddles), not to mention it's dark out. I'll be doing the speed limit, or maybe a hair over... But I usually end up with some a-hole riding so close that I can't see the tail lights in my rear view.

Now in most cases, since I have hydroplaned quite a few times, I go a solid 5-10 under the speed limit on wet roads, usually 10 under if it's dark/raining/etc., with very poor visibility. I used to just race along, but with Jeff Wear getting killed, as well as another person that I knew, I've toned it down.

I guess I could think of something... Maybe install a rear facing horn...