Severe Weather Discussion > Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing
Storm and Storm Chasing Safety
Jimmy Deguara:
With the increased media coverage and exposure to storm chasers and storm chasing, it is becoming apparent that a lot of want to be chasers are coming onto the scene with little or no experience in storm chasing and the safety precautions.
Please use this thread to comment on what you perceive as the important components of storm chasing safety.
What prompted this thread, although not specifically related to storm chasing was a near miss of two large kangaroos in between Mudgee and Lithgow on the 13th December 2006 evening.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
Jeff Brislane:
Lets face it, as dangerous as storms are, the biggest danger has to be driving, especially as when chasing you tend to be often driving in heavy rain/hail. But even just driving to and from the chase as well.
Jimmy you say you nearly hit two seperatre kangaroos. I hit one as you know two months ago and it cost aami over $2000 to repair my car! It pays to be insured.
James:
Kangaroos are certainly my main focus with Night Driving. I also happened to hit one 3 years ago and although it cost me an excess payment, for AAMI the bill came too $1700. The problem with Kangaroos is not that they like to sit in the middle of the road, it's the fact that they often hide in bushes/trees on the side of the road and make a last second jump onto the road just as your passing by. Any area with trees/shrubs close to the side of the road, I now drive slower just in case. I havent had roo problems on main highways where trucks and cars are frequent although I still see road kill on odd occasions so the danger is still there.
Wombats are another animal I keep an eye out for as well as Echinda's, to a lesser extent during the daytime hours, as their spikes can puncture tyres.
Semi Trailers, especially at night, tend to be quite dangerous. Around bends I have seen quite a few cross over the centre lines so I tend to keep quite a way left when passing one. December 13, I was driving back from Gunnedah after a evening lightning chase when I came across a 40km/h roadworks zone. The road ahead had fresh gravel stones put over the road for 1km so I slowed down. Unfortunately a Semi Trailer coming the other way didnt think they needed too and passed at 100km/h. Needless to say I didnt appreciate the 6 new stone chips in my windscreen.
Lastly tyre choice is something I dont take lightly and at the start of every season, like to check how much tread I still have and if low, change to newer tyres. Speaking to a few of your local tyre centres about your car type, your style of driving and what conditions you will often encounter (ie for me this includes 80/20 tar/dirt ratio, heavy rain etc.) you will normally get a good idea of what tyres to purchase (And the better ones arent the cheapest!)
australiasevereweather:
Thanks for the contributions to road safety and driving James and Jeff.
Would anyone like to begin a discussion on what constitutes the typical safety precautions in storm chasing particularly for those reaing through and not knowing any better.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
nmoir:
recently i did an advanced driving course and they mentioned that tyre psi is better around 40 or more in tyres as this gets better traction in wet when braking though the ride is a little harder but better fuel economy
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