Storm observer Steve Miller and crew were headed toward a supercell in northwest Oklahoma yesterday, a camcorder running in his vehicle as some extremely dangerous driving behavior unfolded in front of him. I’m so glad that he has uploaded the footage of some prima-donna driving an armor-plated, “look-at-me” sort of vehicle, their Discovery Channel “support” vehicles, and a few others, yesterday in northwestern Oklahoma. Watch the following video to see this asinine behavior for yourself.
That is not just an “oops” driving error or one-time lapse in judgment. It depicts a series of premeditated, reckless, thoughtless, egregiously arrogant, clearly illegal, and patently dangerous maneuvers! I dare anyone — anyone! — to condone or approve of such actions, and justify it!
Far from embarrassing the storm-chase community, Steve’s video reveals a few of (the vehicles of) the yahoos for who they are. Thank you, Steve; you have just performed one of the greatest services to storm chasing. For years, those of us who engage in this hobby have known that the greatest danger lies not necessarily from the storms, but from driving and traffic in stormy conditions. Compound that with most deliberately selfish and arrogant amongst storm chasers, all in the name of ego, greed, and “XTREME INSANE” video.
Chuck Doswell recently asked, “ Are chasers saving lives?” In some cases, the answer seems to be yes, in others, maybe. In this case, imagine a soccer mom, her minivan packed full of kids, or a school bus, oncoming over any of those hills at the wrong time. Those chasers were endangering lives! It is only by sheer good fortune that those criminals didn’t kill anyone.
I’d like to know this also: Who was that selfish jackass yesterday W of Guthrie, headed southbound on the wrong side of a two-lane road, who crossed a double yellow line to pass 30-40 vehicles behind a stop sign (including us), then turned E in the westbound lane of another 2-lane road and jammed his way into that eastbound pack of cars? All with an HP supercell bearing down on the whole crowd…
Despite the horrendously dense crowds in that area (a topic I’ll address in some future BLOG entry), nearly everybody seemed to be reasonably well-behaved; in fact, several of the oncoming, eastbound cars who had right-of-way slowed down to let in traffic coming in from the north, before the storm could munch everybody. Yet a self-centered coward has to ruin it…
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