Oklahoma Inventors Create Innovative 'Tornado Lifejacket'

[Warren Faidley]

Not sure if this is a good idea.

The majority of tornado-related deaths are from head or crushing injuries. It might be better to supply helmets. My biggest fear is that too much time will be wasted putting on these jackets instead of seeking substantial shelter. All schools in tornado prime areas should have some form of shelter.

Given the jackets / blankets cost 1k each, for a school of 200 students that's 200k. That kind of money would go a long way to building an actual shelter.

What do you think?

Warren

http://en.actu.net/p/oklahoma-inventors-create-innovative-tornado-lifejacket

 

[Rob H]

Not sure if this is a good idea.

The majority of tornado-related deaths are from head or crushing injuries. It might be better to supply helmets. My biggest fear is that too much time will be wasted putting on these jackets instead of seeking substantial shelter. All schools in tornado prime areas should have some form of shelter.

Given the jackets / blankets cost 1k each, for a school of 200 students that's 200k. That kind of money would go a long way to building an actual shelter.

What do you think?

Warren

http://en.actu.net/p/oklahoma-inventors-create-innovative-tornado-lifejacket

"Dr. Steve Walker" - he's a podiatrist, not very relevant to the subject matter
"With a student population of over 23,000, the system is the third largest in the state."
"these blankets start at $1,000"
One blanket per student:

Many of the Moore deaths were "multiple blunt force trauma" and "mechanical asphyxiation" - how is a blanket that a child holds onto in 200mph winds going to protect them from walls and ceilings crushing them to death?
equals $2.3 million in revenue just for the Moore school district

Long story short, f these guys for preying on the combined boogeymen of EF-5 tornadoes and school shooters.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I agree with y'all. An elementary school child is supposed to hold onto a gel/foam "blanket" in extremely strong winds? How does this "blanket" protect them from a wall collapsing, or a tree flying at them at 200 mph? If the children hold onto one end of the "blanket", what happens if the wind comes from the other direction? Does the blanket then lift off the user? I see that there are straps through which the student is supposed to place their arms, but there is still a lot of surface area on the body exposed assuming we're dealing with somewhat squirrely (and extremely scared and anxious) children.


For this amount of money (1 per student?), I'd much rather see the money put into more robust tornado shelters or at least a fortification of existing structures to better withstand strong winds. I'm all for innovation, but I don't think this is the right product for the money. As noted, even if these are used, it won't do much to prevent severe injuries and deaths from a tree flying around at high speeds like a real shelter (or heavily-reinforced hallways) will.

 

[Mark Ellinwood]

Odd that they would go after the tornadic debris angle... just about a month ago they wanted to protect kids from school shootings. Neither seem practical, but it's even less so for tornadoes.

Their About section specifically mentions shootings first... click "next" a couple of times to get to the tornado bit: http://bodyguardblanket.com/pages/bgaboutbodyguard01.html

 

[John Olexa]

As Jeff said. What's to keep the bottom part from blowing up thus exposing most of their body?? Judging from the children in the middle of this image, looks like it would not take much wind at all for it to blow up in the air and off their backs.

 

[Matt Tottle]

..hell, with the arm straps it would probably act like a sail and take the kid with it.. Easily one of the dumbest inventions since the bumper dumper.

 

[Billy Faletti]

I couldn't agree more with much of what has already been said. I especially agree with the fact that school districts should build storm shelters rather than spend possibly millions of dollars for every student to have these blankets. I can tell you that from personal experience as well.

The tornado safety plan at our school district is to get into the hallways (with glass doors at either end of them), and cover our heads. That is also the plan for many (if not most) schools throughout the country. I could see the blankets possibly providing worthwhile protection in an EF-0 or EF-1 tornado, but in anything beyond that they will likely become useless.

The school I went to for preschool was hit by the Granville-Utica, IL tornado back on 4/20/04 (yes, I'm a teenager). Had the tornado hit during school hours, many children could've been seriously injured or killed with some of the large chunks of brick wall falling. These blankets will obviously give little to no protection from walls collapsing, etc. Even in Illinois, I do feel that our school districts should have designated storm shelters.

Here's an image from inside the school after the tornado. This kind of collapsing debris was present in some of the hallways, where young students (and possibly I) would've been seeking shelter:

Sorry if this is a little long-winded and/or a little off-topic, but these are some of the legitimate concerns I have.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Do the school's in Moore and other part's of Oklahoma not have safe room's? A lot of the school's here in Joplin, MO either already have a safe room, or one is currently being constructed after the Joplin tornado. I would think that as many tornadoes that goes through Moore, OK that all the school's there would have a safe room.

 

[Greg Campbell]

..hell, with the arm straps it would probably act like a sail and take the kid with it.. Easily one of the dumbest inventions since the bumper dumper.

At least the Bumper Dumper is functional. This is blatant bull, up there with 'Solar Roadways' in the Scam-The-Dumb-People ratings. My first thought when I saw the above image was to recall the security video showing wind and debris howling down a school corridor. As pointed out, a good 50 mph wind will blow away the blankets, and if you strap them to kids, they will be along for the ride. Dumb!

For $1,000 a kid (likely a lot less), a school could create proper shelters by burying several old shipping containers around the facility.

 

[Matt Tottle]

I thought we went through that already. You can't just bury a shipping container and call it a shelter at a school. There's nothing that says Joe Blow the redneck prepper can't do that on his own property for his own shelter, but a shelter at a public place of accommodation must meet codes and minimum building and accessibility standards. A shipping container is NOT a "proper shelter".

 

[Matt Tottle]

Do the school's in Moore and other part's of Oklahoma not have safe room's? A lot of the school's here in Joplin, MO either already have a safe room, or one is currently being constructed after the Joplin tornado. I would think that as many tornadoes that goes through Moore, OK that all the school's there would have a safe room.

"As many tornadoes that goes through Moore"? There have been 22 in the past 125 years. Only six of those have been F-3/EF-3 or higher. Only one has hit a school. The average over the past 15 years (the timeframe of the last three major tornadoes) is less than one student death per year related to a tornado - including this past one, where seven of the deaths were kids that DROWNED IN THE SCHOOL BASEMENT.. When you go back to the beginning of recordkeeping in 1890, the number of deaths that occur in schools during tornadoes is statistically insignificant. Even in Moore you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning twice in the same week than you do of dying when a tornado hits a school.

The cost to retrofit existing schools with shelter areas is insanely high, with a great possibility that it will never be used - therefore it is a waste of money. It is much more cost efficient to build fortified areas during construction of a new facility - which is what is happening now in Moore.

 

[rdale]

where seven of the deaths were kids that DROWNED IN THE SCHOOL BASEMENT..

Thanks for trimming down the abuse of apostrophes In any case, those children did not die from drowning, but from blunt force trauma due to the collapse.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-t...ipped-school-records-moment/story?id=19239454

 

[Joey Ketcham]

"As many tornadoes that goes through Moore"? There have been 22 in the past 125 years. Only six of those have been F-3/EF-3 or higher. Only one has hit a school. The average over the past 15 years (the timeframe of the last three major tornadoes) is less than one student death per year related to a tornado - including this past one, where seven of the deaths were kids that DROWNED IN THE SCHOOL BASEMENT.. When you go back to the beginning of recordkeeping in 1890, the number of deaths that occur in schools during tornadoes is statistically insignificant. Even in Moore you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning twice in the same week than you do of dying when a tornado hits a school.

The cost to retrofit existing schools with shelter areas is insanely high, with a great possibility that it will never be used - therefore it is a waste of money. It is much more cost efficient to build fortified areas during construction of a new facility - which is what is happening now in Moore.

Oh, okay. Only 22 tornadoes? Thanks for that clarification. How silly of me to think it would be smart to have safe rooms at school's to protect the students for when tornado # 23 rolls through. It only took 1 large tornado to come through Joplin to prompt the administration of the school district to build safe room's for most of the school's. Guess it's better to save money and just hope a school isn't hit again while school is in session and end up with dozens of students and staff that became victims.

 

[rdale]

Your last line is correct, retrofitting is a waste of money. They are more likely to die from heat exhaustion at football practice or in a playground accident than a tornado. Schools should be spending money in the educational process, not for every possible risk that exists.

 

[Shane Adams]

"As many tornadoes that goes through Moore"? There have been 22 in the past 125 years. Only six of those have been F-3/EF-3 or higher. Only one has hit a school. The average over the past 15 years (the timeframe of the last three major tornadoes) is less than one student death per year related to a tornado - including this past one, where seven of the deaths were kids that DROWNED IN THE SCHOOL BASEMENT.. When you go back to the beginning of recordkeeping in 1890, the number of deaths that occur in schools during tornadoes is statistically insignificant. Even in Moore you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning twice in the same week than you do of dying when a tornado hits a school.

The cost to retrofit existing schools with shelter areas is insanely high, with a great possibility that it will never be used - therefore it is a waste of money. It is much more cost efficient to build fortified areas during construction of a new facility - which is what is happening now in Moore.

It's f*cking retarded that people still oppose anything that would save lives based on the fact it "costs too much" when this country pours trillions down the drain on policing the world in wars that we have no business being involved in. It's like this place is all for spending on defense of anything but its own people.