Kansas police roadblocks cause storm chaser traffic jams near Dodge City

[Dan Robinson]

Twice, I encountered police roadblocks in the Dodge City area on Tuesday, both of which caused significant traffic jams. In the first case south of town, the roads had been free-flowing with relatively sparse chaser numbers until everyone got trapped behind the roadblock. I was caught in this jam, and made a point to walk down to the police vehicles to get this video:

The second case was on the north side of Dodge City, where police had the main road north out of town closed off.

Chaser numbers were high during this event, but I did not see any particularly egregious behavior worthy of criticism. According to posts on Twitter, at least one chaser got a ticket for passing a roadblock, while others were chewed out by an officer at a restaurant after the storms were over.

I will post my 4-way dashcam video from this day when I arrive back home and have a fast computer to use.

 

[Todd Lemery]

Got stuck in the same jams as you. I didn't understand the road blocks as the tornado never crossed the roads being blocked and it increased the traffic on all the other secondary roads as people looked for alternate routes.

 

[Warren Faidley]

This is a new (and very dangerous) tactic being deployed by law enforcement to stop chaser traffic. When I exchanged emails with an officer following a recent event, I was told they were going to crackdown on chasers, including road blocks, texting (and visibility distractions) violations and speeding. One of the reasons I avoided the region yesterday.

I'm starting a Kickstarter project to buy a helicopter. (lol)

 

[Atreyu Neyhart]

I really don't see the point of this road block? Just another over Reach, by Gov/Law Enforcement. IMO. You're out in a part of Kansas where the towns are small and the country is open, so is the point here to stop chasers from ''killing themselves'' or just to make extra cash by over enforcing a law that isn't a law? Let the chasers chase! Of course there are people out there who have made dangerous, not well thought out maneuvers, but it seems they are a small group compared to the chasers who do it responsibly. Oh America, you give us more freedom every year.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I should note that I've heard from multiple law enforcement representatives this morning, including a police chief and several law enforcement officers in Kansas and Texas. The overall opinion is that blocking a highway (unless there is a physical danger like a flood, accident or power lines) is not a good idea and most departments would frown on it. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when severe weather (and a possible moderate risk) effects the same area.

 

[Damen Winslow]

The police are causing more harm than good by doing this. KS is looking less like a place to chase in future visits which is sad because that's where I grew up. It seems rather unconstitutional to block access to roads for no good reason at all.

 

[joel ewing]

I sure hope this doesn't have to ever happen, but say for example that a ill-conceived LEO roadblock results in someone being killed, perhaps by a satellite tornado or extreme winds. I would hope a vigorous lawsuit would follow by the family of the deceased. I would be very interested in seeing how some of these maneuvers would hold up in a court of law.
Does anybody remember a ludicrous roadblock of incredible folly set up by Graham Co. Kansas LEO's on June 9th 2005.....that pinned hundreds of drivers in the path of a long-track, destructive EF-3 tornado just south of Hill City on Hwy 283? Chasers and 18-wheeler drivers were abandoning their vehicles and frantically explaining to the officials that a large tornado was soon to arrive, but it fell on deaf ears. This was a almost beyond belief, but thankfully the tornado diverted and missed the road-blocked vehicles. I fear this scenario will soon repeat itself, but next time our luck may have run out.
Folks, it is obviously VERY important that all of us chasers keep putting our best foot forward this season, as more than ever we are under the proverbial fishbowl. We should practice safe driving skills at all times, anyway....not just because we're being scrutinized as of late. I'm not preaching here....just reminding my chasing friends and cohorts that we need to really be mindful of this BEGINNING NOW.

 

[Kelton Halbert]

I encountered 4 road blocks during the chase, and honestly, the blocks I encountered were due to 1) downed power lines across the road or 2) a freaking propane tank in the middle of the road leaking gas, 3) a downed semi, and 4) was the video in the original post.

At 3 out of the 4 road blocks, the officers were very professional, reasonable, and easy to work with. At those 3 road blocks, after a short stop and conversation with them, we were let through once it was deemed safe, which only cost us about a minute of waiting each time and we missed 0 tornadoes due to the road blocks. The road block in the first post was the only one where the officer was yelling and seemingly aggressive, although I was not there soon enough to know the context. Personally, I'm inclined to believe that an entitled and overly excited chaser pissed him off first, but I never witnessed any reckless behavior from chasers during this event.

All that to say, my encounters with road blocks were very brief and the officers were easy deal with and weren't a problem.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Warren, since you have contact with the LEO community, would it be possible to have some of them come on here to have discussions directly with us? It seems it might be helpful to have a direct dialog instead of going back and forth and waiting for media coverage to start these battles. I think there are some misunderstandings on both sides that maybe we could resolve by direct communication.

 

[John Farley]

Dan, was the roadblock you encountered south of Dodge City on U.S. 283? I was in backed-up traffic there but pretty far back, as I hung out for what turned out to be a little too long watching the first tornado from east of 283. An interesting sidelight - while eating later in Dodge City (in one of the few restaurants that had power) I was visiting with an over-the road trucker who was stuck in the same jam. An interesting point: He said he was not worried about his safety from the tornado because he figured if all the chasers were there taking videos and pictures, he was in a safe place. He did say he had a few chasers walk out in front of his rig crossing the road to get pictures/video. Surprisingly, he also said that in 20 years of truck driving, this was the first time he had seen a tornado.

Personally, the only bad behavior I saw was from a semi driver, who created a rolling roadblock by moving slowly with his rig half on the shoulder and half in the driving lane, with maybe a quarter mile to the next vehicle in front of him. Not sure if he was scared or just watching the tornado, but he added considerably to the backup.

The only police roadblock I personally encountered was after the storm had passed, due to debris on the road where the tornado had crossed U.S. 50.

 

[Clayton Drew]

Watched the storm initiate South of Minneola, when I got north on 283 there was already quite a bit of chaser traffic but everybody seemed to be well behaved. I knew that roadblocks were going to be a problem so I took the dirt roads west of 283 and followed north behind the tornados into DDC. I saw maybe 8 other chasers on the dirt roads at that point. When I got to hwy 56 on the west side of DDC there was 1 deputy that let me pass north across hwy 56, he was very friendly, no problems at all.

 

[Atreyu Neyhart]

Just seen a video of the Wamego Kansas tornado, as dude was driving into town from the South, a Local City cop and Two All Black Law Enforcement Chargers pulled in front to start a road block.....I wonder if they are buying these all black vehicles strictly for this purpose.

 

[rdale]

I wonder if they are buying these all black vehicles strictly for this purpose.

Let me follow your line of thinking... You are wondering if police departments are changing the colors of their cars and buying new ones just to do rolling chaser roadblocks?

That would be a NO.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I moved north fairly quickly so I was able to avoid the southern roadblock (I didn't even know there was a southern roadblock til this thread). There was a road block set up on the far northern edge of town as the tornado was passing to the northwest, but there was a turn left/right option so it wasn't backing up traffic, and I was able to head north again by going east about a mile or so and taking Avenue A northward.

 

[Atreyu Neyhart]

Let me follow your line of thinking... You are wondering if police departments are changing the colors of their cars and buying new ones just to do rolling chaser roadblocks?

That would be a NO.

Some Departments are buying them anyways, but same as with Dodge City, Wamego had all black LEV's used for this purpose. I lived here my whole life, been through count-less counties and haven't seen these up until this whole road block issue popped up. Why wouldn't they? If there is money to be made then they will purchase anything....I mean, I understand if a town is completely obliterated and you don't want on-looker traffic slowing down first responders then go ahead and block the road! But It's obvious this is not what the road blocks are about, it's a crack down on chasers. Im not in anyway Anti-Law Enforcement I just fail to see the usefulness of the road blocks.