I’m not condoning overly aggressive driving, but there is a flip side to this issue in the many slow-driving chasers going 10-15mph under when fast-moving tornadoes/mesos/supercells are approaching the road or moving away rapidly. Several times I had to make difficult passes of rows of 5-7 vehicles (legally) not just because of the first car in line going slow, but because the cars following would not pass when they had easy opportunities to. This probably contributes to the more aggressive chasers feeling justified to make those more dangerous maneuvers. I’m of course not saying do 90 in the rain or pass on double yellows, but if there are a dozen cars behind and no one ahead, it’s a sign one might be going too slow for the situation.
Ah, yes... the verboten flip side of the coin that's unspeakable on social media. I've seen at least a couple semi-viral videos this season posted by chasers who were appalled at being passed on double yellow. To be clear, no one should do that. But what struck me, particularly in the more recent video from this past weekend, was that the offending vehicles were passing the filmer
like they were standing still... and more than one offending was vehicle able to do that within the 10-second clip. Is it possible, just maybe, that this suggests the person gleefully filming their viral clip was obstructing traffic unreasonably -- at the very least, uncourteously?
It's long been apparent to me that the chasing community is no different than the general population when it comes to a sizable subset being oblivious, selfish nuisances on the road... and I'm talking about the opposite end of the spectrum as the media assholes flipping trucks in 3"/hour rain rates and running people off the road (which, needless to say, is its own huge problem). Intuitively, it makes no sense that any of us would travel hundreds of miles and spend untold dollars to see fleeting moments of nature, only to drive below the speed limit in urgent situations (high-end torrential rain with major hydroplaning potential and other imminent hazards like tornado debris in the road excepted, of course) while ruining the chases of dozens of our fellow hobbyists. But somehow, that exact behavior is prevalent... and, let's be honest, that contingent contributes overwhelmingly to the formation of "conga lines." And, much like with the general public on crowded highways, these nuisance drivers doing their nuisance thing are often the first domino in a sequence of building frustration and impatience that leads to more dangerous incidents minutes later.
I guess at the end of the day, it's the
attitude of the chasers doing 53 in a 65 as a dozen chasers back up behind them in a time-sensitive scenario that I can't grasp. Based on social media, some of them clearly are fully aware of what they're doing... and their Karen-esque reaction is to pull out the camera and start tagging the highway patrol when bad reactive behavior ensues. Personally, when I become aware there's a chaser behind me clearly wanting to go faster than I am, I usually: 1) try to make extra sure I'm paying attention and going as fast as I'm comfortable with in the conditions in the immediate term, and then 2) go out of my way to make it easy for them to pass (even slowing down slightly and waving them around) as soon as an obvious passing opportunity appears. Sometimes, I'll even pull over just to let them go by, especially if there's literally no one in front of me for a ways. I mean, getting them off my ass is good for both of us, right? Obviously, I'm not talking about a situation where I'm already in a conga line and it's hopelessly backed up ahead of me. But somewhere, at the front of that line, there's probably somebody who's either distracted or just isn't comfortable driving around storms. That person's ego simply not allowing them to accept that they should just pull over, or do whatever they can to stop obstructing everybody behind them (even if, yes, some of those people may want to speed), is something I'm not sure I'll ever quite understand.
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They finished with "I get needing to learn, but tornado alley isn't the place to learn." I found the last part particularly ironic, considering the criticism that myself and other now experienced chasers got for chasing in Dixie (or really anywhere else other than the plains) when we started out. Speaking for myself, I was never able to get the time off to chase in May and June when I lived in Kentucky and Tennessee, and I wasn't going to just sit at the house till the opportunity materialized out of thin air. The whole "hope in one hand..." saying.
