Kansas police roadblocks cause storm chaser traffic jams near Dodge City

[Kade Illian]

Personally, I am not a storm chaser, but I do know there has been an increasing amount of citizens trying to chase these storms. Anybody with a camera can go out in their cars and chase a tornado in their town. No experience what so ever just trying to "liven up" their Instagram page. Part of the reason I believe this particular roadblock was set up was to keep these fake chasers safe. Again, with no experience these people would have no idea how the tornado may move or if they are getting to close. I am not saying what the officer especially in this video did was right, but I trying to look at it from their point of view.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Cops don't know the difference between "fake" chasers and legitimate chasers, so that point is invalid.

 

[Kade Illian]

No they do not but by stopping everybody they "may" be able to "save" lives. I do not agree with them doing this at all, but this could be the reason why they are creating these roadblocks.

 

[Zack Cooper]

No they do not but by stopping everybody they "may" be able to "save" lives. I do not agree with them doing this at all, but this could be the reason why they are creating these roadblocks.

They "may" be able to save lives, but they may also end them if this continues to occur.. We all know there have been cases of cops blocking roads where they did not need to be blocked, including IN THE PATH of tornadoes.

 

[Kade Illian]

Good point, but I am trying to look at their side in a logical way. I have no idea why they would create a roadblock in a situation like you are talking about Again, I think a lot of problems could be solved by trying to look at this problem logically.

 

[Warren Faidley]

On a similar subject, did anyone ever discover any accurate information about the roadblocks that occurred during El Reno?

I should add that since it appears the last major outbreak / elevated risk of the season has passed, and lower risk NW flow events take over late next week, this subject will likely die off until next year.

 

[rdale]

If there is money to be made then they will purchase anything....

What money do they make in a rolling road block? I'm really having a hard time following your claims...

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.

I'm sorry - that's just silly. Cops have far more to do with their time than see if they can gang up and slow down chasers. Their goal is to keep people from driving into a tornado. I watched the KS video a few nights ago from JeffP and saw countless cars flying down the highway unaware of the large cloud in front of them which actually was a wedge. Roadblocks reduce that occurrence.

 

[Clarence Bennett]

I am a little late to the conversation, but what was the time of the roadblock on 283 into Dodge. I was obviously ahead of it. I took the 400 loop around the west side and did not encounter any issues there either except for an 18 wheeler that had just been spun around and flipped. LEO sped past me just as we pulled up to the scene, but I was able to go around the rig without any trouble. I went north on 106 Road and then back east on Garnett Road and had no issues there either.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The roadblock was on a county road to the west of 283. I believe it was Fowler Road / 106, but I need to get my GPS logs off of the laptop and check them. The second big tornado (Rozel III, white stovepipe) tracked along this road, crossing it at least once. There were around two dozen chasers northbound following right behind the tornadoes (I was one of them). Chaser traffic was relatively sparse in this location, as it normally is close to tornadoes. We were basically all leapfrogging each other, but even so, spacing between us was very wide and there were no problems until we all reached the roadblock. I posted my front dashcam timelapse where you can see how the traffic was:

My 4-way video is currently uploading, I will be posting a new thread about that once it's done (probably tomorrow sometime).

I am not inclined to believe this was a public safety move, as this was a very lightly traveled road and the tornadoes at this point were relatively small and highly visible. I didn't see anyone that looked like a local resident on this road, it was almost certainly all chasers.

 

[John Olexa]

...Cops have far more to do with their time than see if they can gang up and slow down chasers...

I don't know about that. If a person or group ( chasers?) get on their bad side, for what ever reason, they will go out of their way to make life miserable for you if possible. I know this first hand. I road Harley's back in the 70's - 90's. I once took the mirrors off because they were pretty useless due to vibration, got pulled for it. Bought 2 dentist mirrors and mounted them.Technically, that was legal then. I started getting pulled at least once a week, check handle bar height (I had ape hangers) check tires, seat, sissy bar etc.. Just to bug me. It stopped after just a couple months, but point taken!

 

[Clarence Bennett]

Good info and video Dan. I stayed on 283 directly due east of everything the entire time, which was in front of the hoards. 283 south of me was body to body and I really had to watch everyone closely until I got in front if them. I did see one good video (unamed) that showed an officer in front of them inching along and they did great staying behind and respecting him...then all of a sudden, another (unamed) comes blasting up the right side and actually went around the officer, ignoring his rolling road block. Later in the video, the officer is talking to the chasers and states that if circumstances were different, he would have arrested him. This isn't the first time he has done this and I can tell you firsthand that a sheriff in that neck of the woods hates him and has made the statement that he will get him one day.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Stormtrack mobile app

 

[Todd Lemery]

 

[Todd Lemery]

Post above is a screen grab from that day. There's definitely no shortage of "dots" on the way to the developing cell....

 

[James Gustina]

Honestly, outside of that roadblock on the grid of dirt roads west of 283 between Minneola and Dodge (I believe that was the first one in Dan's video), I didn't see anything wrong with the other 3 we encountered. Didn't see much local law enforcement after the first roadblock which may have helped. It was mainly KSHP, who were very cordial at all 3 roadblocks and let us through once they ascertained we wouldn't be in imminent danger from downed power-lines or the propane tank the tornado flung on to US 283 and could safely get by the flipped semi.

Just to note, the second roadblock you encountered was due to the aforementioned propane tanking leaking propane in the center of the road. Not much LEOs can do about blocking people when the possibility of a fireball o' death is on the table.

 

[hadrian predock]

We weren't right on the road block, so I can't comment directly other than the perceived traffic congestion that was a result. As well, I hear all the critiques and potential pitfalls of roadblocks. Yet, I'm sure i'm not the only one that day who was eyeing Dodge City with deep concern about what was heading their way. With so many chasers converging on events like this just short of the edge of a town, is there a code of ethics and conduct that the seasoned pros on this site and beyond abide by, or even suggest to the rest of us with less experience in this situation? (when/where to stop, etc.). I'm hopeful there is a collective stance on this. I'm sure this has been discussed in the past, and if there are other post/threads that address, please let us know. In any case, we were all truly lucky to have witnessed that day south of Dodge.