Tornado chasing is no more dangerous then going to the zoo... when you look at lions and bears from outside the cage you are safe. IF you jump in the cage then well it's on you.... Every storm has a safe way to chase it. Sure if you always take the safe route you will get less intercepts then a maniac does, but you WILL get tornadoes taking the safe route.....
I agree with you except for one huge difference: The zoo has walls, signs, and fences to keep the spectators and the beast separated. They have to design their enclosures for the stupidest person that might pass through the zoo.
The fences in stormchasing are the self-imposed safe distances that you keep from the tornado, meso, and core. The signs are also there, but they take some time and experience to learn how to read.
I think that's what all this boils down to; did the tour SUV driver know how to read the signs? Or did they choose to ignore the signs? We may never know the truth.
I don't know why everyone else chases but I can tell you that I chase for the thrill of it. There are other ways to get thrills such as rock climbing, hang gliding, skydiving, auto racing, etc... What sets storm chasing apart in my opinion is the level of intellectual commitment that is required. You have to invest a lot of time, energy, and study just to see a tornado safely. There are no written procedures, no blueprints, no 'starter kit', no difficulty levels (novice, intermediate, expert) to work through, etc... It's a hobby for people with the willingness to do some studying, fail a bunch of times, and
utilize some common sense.
Also, common sense is no substitute for experience and experience is no substitute for common sense. From what I saw in that video, one of them was missing. I'm just not sure which one it was.
