Chaser Safety on Wet Roads

[David Drummond]

I guess I could think of something... Maybe install a rear facing horn...
[/b]

I have those nice bright 50W lights on my trailer hitch. When people start getting too close at night or ride up on you with their brights on, flipping those on for a few seconds works wonders!

 

[Dan Robinson]

I agree with Jeff. In the realm of chasing, storm dangers have always been traditionally overhyped while driving dangers have been, in my opinion, greatly underhyped. I think this trend desperately needs to be reversed, and to our credit, I think it is beginning to. We need to put our greater safety emphasis on the greater danger. Not ignoring the storm dangers, but putting higher priority on road hazards.

Don't get me wrong, I know storms are dangerous. But the dangerous parts of storms are usually very small with narrow swaths, and therefore easy to avoid and, in fact, actually difficult to get into on purpose. For a chaser with at least a minimal amount of data or information, this danger zone is easy to avoid.

The road dangers, however, are always there, from the start of the chase to the end. We hear about the big car accidents and the tragic ones like Jeff Wear's crash, but I submit to everyone that there are far more that we don't hear about. I've even been in a minor wet-road accident while chasing that I was lucky didn't end up in a pileup. I don't like admitting that because it was a stupid mistake on my part. I was going too fast and could not stop in time when traffic slowed. I only talk about this because it proves that it can and will happen to anyone of us who isn't careful about speed.

It's one thing if a chaser finds themselves in the path of a wedge, but it also won't help that situation if they slide off the road and flip going 90 trying to escape.

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've always heard that tapping your brakes lightly repeadedly (to flash the brake lights) or turning on your hazards is the signal for the tailgater to increase their following distance. This works most of the time but there is always going to be the person who doesn't get the signal.

In those cases I will just pull over and let the guy pass the first chance I get. If I can't find a place to pull off, I will slow way down, roll down the window and wave for the driver to pass, as long as it is in a safe spot to do so.

I'd rather let the guy pass than stress about it. With all the road rage cases these days you never know what people are going to do.

 

[Scott Olson]

The shear volume of accidents on 3/12 was incredible. I saw nearly 20 vehicles off the road heading home on Sunday night (due to ice). Pete McConnell witnessed many wrecks from the wind/hail on his way to meet up with me. Two chasers had wrecks, including our own Stan Olson and a tour company which was mentioned previously. Hydroplanning is a serious issue to us, since we expose ourselves to adverse road conditions over and over again. Two chasers have been killed driving back from the chase and many more have been in accidents. Aside from the critical factor of speed, here are some tips:

Do NOT apply your brakes

Do NOT try to steer in any direction but straight ahead

 

[John Farley]

I think the other safety issue raised by 3/12 is the dangers of chasing at night. Without pointing fingers at anyone, just look at some of the things that have been reported on ST. One chaser crashed into a grain bin that had been blown onto I-72. Another acknowledges coming within 20 yards or so of a house that had been blown onto the road without knowing it at the time, and wondering why the people in the area were freaking out when she saw nothing but "high funnels." By daylight, she observed F2-F3 damage where she had seen only "high funnels." I think that having large numbers of chasers out at night, especially when the storms are moving at 50 mph, and in some cases in areas with lousy visibility, is asking for big trouble.

Did I want to head out when I saw that long-track supercell to my west at sunset or watched its lightning to my north after dark? You bet I did - and my tornado count for this year will probably suffer because I did not chase it. But I will live to chase another day. I worry that one of these days, someone chasing fast-moving storms after dark, on wet roads, maybe in a place with lousy visibility, won't.

What you do is up to you, and I am not going to tell you what to do (and couldn't anyway). But I do think everyone ought to think seriously about the possible consequences before heading out after dark, especially if the conditions are otherwise less than ideal (fast-moving cells or numerous or lined-out storms, slippery roads, areas with hills and trees). Yes, I know not all of these applied on 3/12, but several of them did, and I think we are lucky we did not lose any chasers that night.

Just my $.02

John Farley
Edwardsville, IL

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Being blown off road by a wind event.[/b]

A trucker once told me how important it was to slow down during high winds, wet or dry. His 18-wheeler would handle sudden gusts of 50 mph just fine if he was going 55, but if he was traveling at 75mph there was a good chance he would wind up leaving the pavement.

During the 2/16/01 derecho here in Alabama, I was driving my van on the northern fringes of the event, yet still had the vehicle jerked to the shoulder, then violently shoved back across two lanes into the left lane within a couple seconds. I had to slow to 20mph to be able to maintain a straight one-lane path.

That storm, incidentally, had debris laying both north and south, including trees and signs, and some signposts on I-65 were bent in an inverted 'J' shape, as if the sign had been blown parallel to the ground by the north wind, then further flattened by the trailing south wind. If I remember, top speeds in that storm were above 105mph.