Rant from a long time chaser: No lessons from El Reno?

[Brett Roberts]

Honestly, Dan, I can't see how the videos are able to conclusively demonstrate anything. They're not pointed every direction and in 3D. The time lapse speeds up the experience, but it certainly doesn't help document chaser behavior IMO. Just look at the arguments that ensue from police videos right now--and that's just the videos that purport to actually show something happening! Short of seeing the TIV plow head-on into your dashcam, I'm not sure we can see anything, even if there's something to be seen... But to be clear, I aint saying the sky is falling, either.

I've chased at least a dozen days each spring for the past 5+ years, mostly centered on the popular southern Plains region, and I largely agree with Dan: genuinely reckless chaser behavior has been fairly rare, in my experience.

Some of the more common annoyances include: people and tripods in (or at least too close to) the road, chase vehicles driving under the speed limit on highways with a long line of other chasers lined up behind them, and chase vehicles parked partially on the road in situations where there's clearly too much moving traffic in the vicinity to get away with it (even briefly). To be frank, chase tour vans seem to account for a lot more than their fair share of these annoyances, at least in my experience (but that's a topic for another thread next off-season ). Among "regular" chasers, these incidents certainly don't appear rampant, relative to the total number on the roads. And when it comes to completely blatant disregard for others -- excessive speed when other chasers are around, weaving in and out of traffic dangerously, passing uphill on two-lane roads, etc. -- I very rarely see it at all. To be sure, I have seen it, but we're talking once or twice a year. I think a lot of non-chasers, armchair chasers, and very casual/infrequent chasers see or hear about one or two such incidents and then blow it out of proportion just because drama is entertaining when you're stuck at home. Separately, some veterans (or others who have a tough time accepting the recent explosion in chasing's popularity) may tend to hone in on any such cases out of sheer frustration and longing for the old days.

I find Dan's videos compelling. It's true that they don't "prove" anything, per se, especially since none of the days he posted are known for being particularly epic chaser convergence episodes. Rather, I think they illustrate the point that egregious misbehavior is rare, if he doesn't capture any cases of it in his sample of several fairly big days. If you specifically look for it on the biggest convergence day each year -- i.e., 14 April 2012 or 19 May 2010 -- you're sure to find it. Whether that amounts to a crisis is a matter of opinion, I suppose.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

My closest experience was this guy on the dirt road near Aetna that day, driving on a super muddy road and the guy guns it and passes us on the right side and we were just trying to stay on the road. He really wanted to get to that tornado that was to the east of us. Funny thing, I saw him again in Texas on the way to Dublin. Can't forget a car like that lol.

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

My closest experience was this guy on the dirt road near Aetna that day, driving on a super muddy road and the guy guns it and passes us on the right side and we were just trying to stay on the road. He really wanted to get to that tornado that was to the east of us. Funny thing, I saw him again in Texas on the way to Dublin. Can't forget a car like that lol.

Almost looks like he couldn't stop and was having as hard a time as you...so his only way out was getting around you
Clearly going a bit fast for those roads...again 4WD and AWD do NOT give you traction at speed, only help traction from a stop. The only thing that makes a difference is tires

 

[Kevin Rimcoski]

No one has a sense of value for anything. Whether it's your life, someone else's, value of time or relationships. That's something I've noticed over years and sounds like Shane touches on it as well

 

[Chad M]

In the three days I have been out this year, I've only noticed a single car that did not completely pull off the road. It's was on the storm by Pampa/Wheeler.

The other 100 or however many cars were completely pulled off the road, so I figured this one car was either a jerk or an idiot. I happened to pass the same car doing it twice, so I know it wasn't a honest mistake.

 

[Travis Davis]

I'm with the group that states if someone wants to be close, let them. My other hobbies include diving. More divers are killed a year than chasers.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

Almost looks like he couldn't stop and was having as hard a time as you...so his only way out was getting around you
Clearly going a bit fast for those roads...again 4WD and AWD do NOT give you traction at speed, only help traction from a stop. The only thing that makes a difference is tires

Yeah we chalked it up to that. He came up on us very quickly and passed by just as fast, as you could see. Still, things like that happen out on the roads and all it takes is someone making a move at the wrong time and it would have taken both cars out. I think things like this are the exception, but you just never know what can pop up when you're out.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

In the three days I have been out this year, I've only noticed a single car that did not completely pull off the road. It's was on the storm by Pampa/Wheeler.

Was it a black Chevy Cavelier with a yellow hood? Said "Storm Stalker" on the back?

 

[Ric Burney]

Not too sure who this was but 04/22/2015 just outside of Floydada this guy parked in the left turn lane of a divided highway then ran across the lanes to get some shots. Not a very safe spot considering there were quite a few other places to pull completely off the roadway.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I still have a hard time believing that my actions are giving Warren Faidley a bad name. They really aren't, but it's interesting you think they are.

You make a good point here that should be clarified. We are talking about two separate issues here. One or two chasers doing a few silly or dangerous things does not generally make a difference in the overall chase community. I think we can agree on that. I personally don't care how close someone gets to a tornado, that is their own business and it's not my business to tell them what to do. They may kill themselves and their passengers. It's also up to them to decide if their actions will endanger someone else like other drivers and EMT's or land them in prison for manslaughter -- an ignored but reality-based possibility. I treat all threats on the highway equally; be it a local nut racing towards a twister or a drunk driver. The second issue is the overall public, media and government view of storm chasing as a pursuit. I would say that 99.9 percent of chasers do not have enough publicity / power to actually effect the image unless they did something really tragic. No one cares (you are right) about the average Joe chaser who posts some crazy footage on YouTube. It is from the 1 percent that most people judge us as a group. It does not matter if you are a major sports team, a Fortune 500 company or a small community of storm chasers --- when the top of the heap is rotten, it tarnishes the entire group and trickles down to everyone... eventually.

W.

 

[chrisbray]

Not too sure who this was but 04/22/2015 just outside of Floydada this guy parked in the left turn lane of a divided highway then ran across the lanes to get some shots. Not a very safe spot considering there were quite a few other places to pull completely off the roadway.View attachment 7993

Was it a black Chevy Cavelier with a yellow hood? Said "Storm Stalker" on the back?

This one? lol

 

[Adam Reagan]

This is once again an issue of people caring how others chase when it REALLY doesn't affect them at all.

That was the message I got while reading over this thread. I'm getting sick and tired of seeing this debate and the nitpicking from wannabe chasers or armchair chasers who chose to stay home on a chase day. It's their money they're spending to go out, they can chase however they want to as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

Not too sure who this was but 04/22/2015 just outside of Floydada this guy parked in the left turn lane of a divided highway then ran across the lanes to get some shots. Not a very safe spot considering there were quite a few other places to pull completely off the roadway.View attachment 7993

Yup, that's the douchebag! I have some footage from April 16 in the panhandle where he STOPPED and PARKED ON THE GD ROAD with his hazards on, to shoot footage behind him. I even passed a group of chasers that were parked off the road with him not even touching the shoulder.

This Storm Stalker guy is a whole new thread. I'm surprised we haven't dug anything up on him or has been mentioned previously. I've had 3 run ins with that guys, all with him showing some irresponsible driving and parking.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Warren I think we are mostly in agreeance, so I'm sorry I took that as a dig on me. I do think that the actions of a few on a TV show DID have some impact on how regular people in society view storm chasers. I always get asked if I drive a (stupid look at me) tank or put probes out. A lot of what was on TV was not genuine.

Much to the flip side of it, seeing your stuff on TWC 20 years ago now is what really made me say "Hey, I want to go see tornadoes some day when I'm all growed up". It's a fine line, and generally I don't give a crap for publicity (although I will take any publicity that comes with $ - I'm a money whore like that - hobby aint cheap). I can also agree that a few have a pretty big social network following, and feel the need to feed into that by claiming and doing more and more inane crap. I frown upon it, but at the end of the day I can't do anything about it.

Honestly it seems like there's a subset and mostly a generational thing (my age and younger - 30) that I've noticed where people really don't care about the money and are more than willing to give things away for notoriety. I don't understand it, but it is what it is.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

This Storm Stalker guy is a whole new thread. I'm surprised we haven't dug anything up on him or has been mentioned previously. I've had 3 run ins with that guys, all with him showing some irresponsible driving and parking.

It is my suggestion that if someone is breaking traffic laws we report them with video to the law enforcement that covers the jurisdiction. And I dont even mean speeding, but I mean flagrant blocking of traffic lanes.