Indiana Passes an Important Law

[Richard Halter]

It's been seven years since I started pouring out emails concerning the idea of mandating weather radios be installed in new manufactured housing to provide the same level of protection for people as smoke alarms do now. Even got a little face time on the Weather Channel for my efforts - that 15 seconds of fame thing, you know.

Well Indiana just had the first statewide bill signed into law stating that starting after June 30th, new manufactured homes must have weather radios installed in them. I don't know if the noise that I and many others made back in 2000 might have contributed to the idea catching hold - I do know that the woman that spearheaded the drive there lost a son in a severe storm and I hope that this success leads to some closure and a sense of satisfaction for perhaps preventing future harm.

Way to go Indiana!

 

[Justin E. Reed]

That is about the most brilliant idea I've heard of in a while. I'm sure many states will follow in suit and it will be atleast in tornado prone states(Plains, Midwest, and South) made law as well before the decade is out. Good job Indiana, I have a good hunch the Evansville tornado had a hand in this.

 

[Jim Hunt]

I am sorry but totally disagree with this law. Let me mention a few of the things I have a problems with this law.

Personal responsibility. It seems so many people no longer want to be responsible for their own actions. People know what storms are capable of and people know how easy it is to pick up a weather radio and they just don’t do it. (If someone truly was financially strapped and could not afford a radio, I have no problem providing them with a radio or supporting a charity that does it.)

Radios need programmed and maintained in working order. So what if someone has a radio. What if it isn’t programmed correctly or stops working. What happens next? It will take someone with personal responsibility to take care of it and we already discussed that above.

The state has said I am less important. The state is not making someone put a weather radio in my home. So I guess my life isn’t worth saving. It figures… (Oh crap – I have personal responsibility. I guess I showed them.)

Where do people go during a storm? So let’s go back to the Evansville incident which is what prompted the mother and her fight for this new law. Let’s put a working radio in every home. Now everyone has been alerted to a deadly tornado heading their way…

Now where do they go? They have a flimsy home and need to get out. Is the law addressing this? Nope?

A better law would be mandate mobile home communities have a shelter for everyone and a siren to alert them. Yes, we would not address those who have a manufactured home and live on their own but they need to see my first statement and get themselves a big help of it!

Maybe next we will pass a law to have us slow down and move over to the left when we pass a law enforcement officer along side of the road. Opps, I guess we already did since people have no common sense.

 

[Walker Ashley]

People know what storms are capable of and people know how easy it is to pick up a weather radio and they just don’t do it.

I think you would be quite surprised at how many people actually have no clue that "weather radio" is or that it even exists. I would guess that some 80-90% of the population has no clue ... again, just a guess.

 

[Andrew Herron]

While I totally advocate getting a radio in everyone's home, requiring it by law just sounds a little Orwellian to me.

 

[Jim Hunt]

I think you would be quite surprised at how many people actually have no clue that "weather radio" is or that it even exists. I would guess that some 80-90% of the population has no clue ... again, just a guess.

But then they have choosen to have their head stuck in the sand. Around here we have large displays of weather radios at many of the grocery stores right at the check outs. The TV weathermen mention it often during regualr forecasts and storm coverage and their yearly severe weather shows. I also see numerous public service announcements about them during shows in primetime to syndicated shows like Oprah and Springer.

I guess these are the same group which cannot figure out school is closed when we have a foot of snow on the ground. Rather than using common sense and listen to local radio (announce every 5 minutes) or TV (constant scrolling updates), they call the school and ask. Duh!

 

[Andrew Herron]

Nature's way of eliminating the stupid. Not to sound demeaning to human life, but why would the human race want a person around who can't think enough to take a proactive stance to awareness?

But then they have choosen to have their head stuck in the sand.

 

[B Ozanne]

This law is just a knee jerk reaction to the tornados that hit Indiana at night last year.

I'm skeptical that you will see any statistically significant increase in safety from this law. The law just says they have to be installed, it doesn't say people have to use them or even know how to use them.

Think about smoke detectors. Fires kill thousands of Americans every year, and smoke detectors save many more thousands. They require no programming and there are almost no false alarms. Yet, people still don't use them.

Now look at tornados. They probably kill 1/1000th less often than fires. Weather radios require programming, they need to be turned on, and the volume needs to be set. I'd like to see the statistics on people who shutdown their weather radio after the first false alarm at 2am.

 

[Terrence Cook]

weather radios

Come on people, were talking about mobile homes, tin cans, a trailer park. This law will be ignored by many and batteries will go dead in weeks or months but the underlying purpose is to protect those that are most vulnerable. It doesn' even take a tornado to destroy a trailer, I have seen the results of an RFD annihalating a trailer in an open area, it's a disaster!!

My point is that this is awesome for those who use it and worth it for those who actually change the batteries more often than once a year.

And although it's probably rare... some trailer parks have protective bunkers that do offer protection if you get the warning QUICK enough. Thus, lets get these people some weather radios.

Time will tell the effectiveness of this law, I see good results in the future.

(ps: natural selection has plenty of other oppertunities)

 

[jason kissam]

interesting law. i do agree that an individual needs to be responsible for themselves when it comes to weather safety. as for me well im a storm chaser who lives in a trailer park... any questions? the neighbors get a kick out of it cause when thunderstorms are around they knock on my door to see what its going to do in the area.

 

[Jeremy Bower]

I currently have an internship with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Emergency Management and I personally can say I've had many conversations about this topic over the last year or so. I agree that mandating such a law to require weather radios in all homes is a good idea; however, how is such a law going to be enforced if at all? Will the weather radio police show up at your doorstep and check to see if your radio is plugged in or has batteries? Even then does the public even know what to do if they do receive the warning? I recently handed out a severe weather preparedness survey at the Central Plains Severe Weather Symposium and many individuals responded to the question of being prepared at home or work as "Not prepared". Roughly at this point I can say at least 75% or more of the people responded to not being prepared to both of those questions. The complete results of the hundreds of surveys handed out will be compiled within the next few weeks.

Bottom line is we see people are apathetic when it comes to this issue. It becomes news when a major tornado strikes a populated area and there are many injuries or fatalities (recently Eagle Pass, Evansville, Andover, etc.) then we forget about it and move on with our lives. Unforunately with my work through the EOC, I've found this line of thinking to be present in many individual's minds. So basically your guess might be as good as mine when it comes to resolving this issue IF it could ever be fully resolved.

 

[Robbie Cox]

It's been seven years since I started pouring out emails concerning the idea of mandating weather radios be installed in new manufactured housing to provide the same level of protection for people as smoke alarms do now.

Well Indiana just had the first statewide bill signed into law stating that starting after June 30th, new manufactured homes must have weather radios installed in them.

Congrat's Richard
Now put your efforts in that all trailer parks must have shelter's big enough to hold all that live there. Without them weather radio's won't do them any good with NWS "partial county alert's".