Reckless Driving?

[Shane Adams]

I think the purpose of threads like this is to simply vent. We're all jerkoffs out there at sometime or another. Even the most well-respected, decorated, degreed chasers are madmen in the heat of the battle. It's human nature. I yell at people sometimes, and I'm sure sometimes they yell at me. They don't care and neither do I. I've never done anything seriously, life-threatening dangerous, but I have broken some laws of the road where anyone who witnessed what I was doing would say "Will ya look at that dumb SOB"....and they'd have every right to say so.

I have two rules...(1) Don't walk into/in front of my shot...(2) Don't block me in when you pull over and stop. As long as these two aren't broken, I can deal with the rest. I'm very environment-aware when around a ton of other chasers, so that's not a big issue for me. I work in Dallas, so I'm used to being around tons of idiots while driving on a daily basis...no problem. My deal is personal space...please stay away from my vidcam and don't park so that I can't leave when I'm ready to leave.

These threads will go on forever, as will the in-fightning and bickering and all of that. Just human beings venting, and we all take turns being the a$$hole on the road.

 

[David Drummond]

Check out this article from the Hutchison newpaper:http://www.hutchnews.com/news/regional/stories/trackers042607.shtml.

A couple of statements out of that I found a bit amusing:

During the hour or so the storm moved over Nickerson, spotters encountered difficulty driving to their assigned locations - dozens of curious onlookers blocked their way.

"It creates too many problems," Guy said. "The way those things were coming down, we didn't know where they were going to drop. It's a miracle no one got hurt, especially with the number of people out on the streets."

Makes you sorta wonder just how "trained" those spotters were eh? I think just about all of the storm chasers that were there had a pretty darn good idea where they were going to drop.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Makes you sorta wonder just how "trained" those spotters were eh?

OH NO! Now we're going back to that "discussion"?

 

[David Drummond]

Just reading between the lines Bob....just reading between the lines.

 

[Danny Murphy]

Just remember when out chasing, that it takes just one little accident to get someone seriously injured or killed just because someone was trying to get a better view of a storm. A serious injury or death would really put a black eye on storm chasers and make reliable storm chasers look like ambulance chasers. Everyone....slow down and take it easy before it is too late, that includes tour companies and individual storm chasers.

 

[David Drummond]

If I put flags on the corners of the fender with thunderstorm symbols on it and put STORM CHASING AMBASSADOR on the side, does that mean I can have diplomatic immunity?

 

[Jay McCoy]

We're all jerkoffs out there at sometime or another. Even the most well-respected, decorated, degreed chasers are madmen in the heat of the battle. It's human nature. I yell at people sometimes, and I'm sure sometimes they yell at me.

I remember a time back in western Oklahoma a few years ago on one chase that somebody was holding David up on a 2 lane road but David didnt want to honk or yell at this "hot girl" in the car in front of us (i was driving behind him). I will always remember Davids reaction we he realized who it actually was..lol. Good thung David didnt blow "her" a kiss huh Shane...

Now thats a classic chase!!

And David the only thing you need immunity from is lightning!!!!!geez.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Well, it's nice to see some light-heartedness. 'scuse me, what's the topic again?

 

[David Drummond]

In my defense, all I could see was the long blonde hair at the time.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

Speaking of reckless driving, there was an email sent to every mass media group in Tulsa today complaining about a RED FORD RANGER (tag numbers were given) that was passing people at way over the speed limit yesterday. The complaint also stated that they were passing on the shoulder and in no passing zones. The person who wrote an email that stated that the driver was flashing his lights, honking at others on the road as he flew by. This really makes us look bad especially when there are SKYWARN stickers pasted all over the place....
This needs to stop as these people are putting the public at more risk than the storms in their area....

I know who this guy was. I can guarantee he is NOT media.

 

[Mark Sudduth]

You have to see this- a true testament

It's a long story, but I usually am the "hurricane guy" and rarely go out to the Alley. But this week, I gave it a shot. I have begun to stream live video during hurricane missions and it works quite well. I wanted to try it during a chase for one or two days- and it too worked very well. More on how later.

I wanted to share with everyone the archived WMV that gets stored when I stream live. I was on the phone with Mike Theiss while he was near Nickerson and he saw the tornado touch down. I was in Wichita at the time and decided to go for it and head to McPherson to intercept the storm- what the heck. I turned on my live stream somewhere along I-135 north and let it run for the duration of the chase. Since I am WAY new at this, and was driving a rental, I took great care to not speed too much- 5 over, tops. If you want a good laugh at what a freshman tornado chaser went through while trying to negotiate a small Kansas town, then this video is for you. It is as colorful as could be without a single curse word- I think. Several of my colleagues were watching the live stream back East and were laughing their butts off at my folly of trying to blast west to catch the soon-to-die storm. I caught no tornadoes those two days but was able to prove that live streaming video using the Internet, not satellite or microwave, was possible- and sometimes humourous. I now have a great sense of appreciation for what the seasoned chasers go through time after time.

Note: download it first by right-clicking and then scroll the time line over to about 10 minutes in and let it roll from there.

www.hurricanetrack.com/stormpics/april24.wmv

 

[Eric Whitehill]

On 4/24/2007 there were vehicles out there in C KS flashing anything they possibly could, long after the storm gusted out... I also noticed some displaying flashing blue and orange lights - but obviously not LE vehicles. What the heck do you need those things flashing for... attention. That's it. But these lights do the intended trick. When you see them behind you obviously wanna try to get out of the way... just to see a yahoo kid behind the wheel passing by...where is this whole thing going to...
Hopefully not to a day where locals are going to throw rocks at chasers every time they see them approach their town...
Not trying to start another light bars discussions here.

As Chris Novy states-

"Light bars do not alter the laws of physics."

 

[Earl Faubion]

As Chris Novy states-
"Light bars do not alter the laws of physics."

A veteran cop was heard telling his rookie partner, "Son, flippin' on those fancy lights don't make you Moses at the Red Sea."

 

[afischer]

I didn't seem to run into many chasers at all on April 24 in Reno county due to being mostly stationary at a single intersection on gravel roads, so I don't know how congested it was elsewhere at this time. However, I came up on quite a circus after dark on my way back toward McPherson, including a DOW and the TIV or whatever that big tin can is. At least one other vehicle appeared to be simply parked in the middle of the highway, with its occupant standing outside. I didn't even try to figure out why... was just happy that after waiting a couple of minutes that I was able to get through.

 

[mark plate]

We didn't see the big chaser convergence either...being that we were late and approached the storm from the southeast instead of following it all the way from Nickerson. Still I thought we'd see a bunch in McPherson after dark when we stopped to eat, but we didn't...don't know where they all disappeared to...