Storm Chasers Killed in Texas

[Natester]

1 minute ago, Jonbo said:

Yep, after losing Tim Samaras and co., and another one to a drunk driver (name escapes me now), this hits me almost as hard. I enjoyed Kelley's commentary while chasing. 

The chaser who was killed by a drunk driver was Andy Gabrielson.

[Hoosier]

9 minutes ago, nwburbschaser said:

I saw at least two signs as they approached the intersection that warned of the stop sign. That was so easily preventable. 

Went back farther on the video and thought I saw another stop sign that was blown (pixely though).  If that's the case, well...

[hawkeye_wx]

14 minutes ago, nwburbschaser said:

I saw at least two signs as they approached the intersection that warned of the stop sign. That was so easily preventable. 

This is pretty sad.

I don't know what that first yellow sign with text was, but there was certainly a clear "stop ahead" sign shortly before the intersection.  I'm sure driving can get pretty boring/routine for these chasers out in the boonies all day, but damn, ya gotta pay attention... and wear your damn seatbelt.

[Stebo]

Just now, Hoosier said:

Went back farther on the video and thought I saw another stop sign that was blown (pixely though).  If that's the case, well...

Yeah that isn't good, I understand it rural Texas but on a day like today there will be traffic, irregardless should obey all traffic laws.

[nwburbschaser]

18 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Went back farther on the video and thought I saw another stop sign that was blown (pixely though).  If that's the case, well...

Something about this just kind of rubs me the wrong way. People have to think about others on the road because getting some damn video or seeing a storm isn't worth killing someone else or yourself over. I feel so bad for Corbin and his family. 

[Msalgado]

I feel bad for the two TWC chasers and especially their families, but nothing like I do for Corbin.  What happened here really looks like vehicular manslaughter and it REALLY pisses me off that TWC couldn't even name him.  I watched the video linked, and I have a hard time believing that that at BEST it wasn't some incredible negligence on the part of TWC crew.  This isn't the first incident with a TWC chase vehicle, and they deserve to have flack over how they run their crews at this point.

[L.B. LaForce]

33 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Went back farther on the video and thought I saw another stop sign that was blown (pixely though).  If that's the case, well...

Ughh, tragic situation that could have been prevented that's for sure. Humans cannot multi-task. I cannot stress the importance of having a dedicated driver on your chases whose sole responsibility is keeping eyes on the road. Someone who is well rested, not fatigued, not looking at the sky, and not communicating or talking on a radio to other people. Leave ALL of the other duties to the passenger. Also, wear your seatbelt!

I'm not here to place blame as we are humans and mistakes happen, but multiple signs were clearly visible up until the intersection. It irks me a bit that another supposed stop sign was blown. Just a terrible situation all around that ended the lives of three people including an innocent 25 year old. TWC should be ashamed for leaving out Corbin's name. All three of these men's live's were lost, not just two, and I feel like Corbin's name is getting left behind when he was the most innocent.

[Drz1111]

1 hour ago, hawkeye_wx said:

This is pretty sad.

I don't know what that first yellow sign with text was, but there was certainly a clear "stop ahead" sign shortly before the intersection.  I'm sure driving can get pretty boring/routine for these chasers out in the boonies all day, but damn, ya gotta pay attention... and wear your damn seatbelt.

The two guys wearing their seatbelt were also killed.  It is damn hard to be killed as a passenger in a Suburban wearing a seatbelt, at normal highway speeds.  This must've been a very high energy / not survivable crash.  Terrible for the guy who didn't run the stop.

[tornadohunter]

Back in 2014, Corbin and I were on a chase team together. We only communicated via twitter and zello, but the dude was a genuinely a very nice guy. He was really starting to have some great success chasing and he will be missed. 

 

i can't believe this. RIP buddy. 

[andyhb]

1 hour ago, nwohweather said:

Can't believe thats who was killed. Guy is arguably the second most famous chaser out there other than Timmer

Fame honestly should have nothing whatsoever to do with this.

[bjc0303]

1 hour ago, Jonbo said:

Yep, after losing Tim Samaras and co., and another one to a drunk driver (name escapes me now), this hits me almost as hard. I enjoyed Kelley's commentary while chasing. 

let's not forget the local chaser killed by El reno tornado

[SluggerWx]

I saw at least two signs as they approached the intersection that warned of the stop sign. That was so easily preventable. 

While I agree, if you review Kelly's feed, the stop sign is unusually far off to the right. Google Maps also shows this more clearly (street view is available for this intersection).

I'm not making excuses - this was avoidable - but I can see how it could happen.

Usually stop signs are pretty close to the edge of the road, and the grown brush to the right of the intersection looks like it obscures the view of oncoming cross traffic.

I also didn't see reflectors on the signage.

I agree with the other posters about multi-tasking while driving & chasing. It also seems like loose computers, tablets and other media devices within the cab of a vehicle are pretty dangerous projectiles in a high speed collision. Hopefully that didn't have an impact here, but maybe this tragedy can help the community at least think about physically mounting devices for safety precautions.

This is a very sad situation for all the families involved.

I really enjoyed Kelly's feed and just general love of weather. Like Andy before him, Kelly was ALWAYS out there giving us armchair enthusiasts a window into weather phenomena that some of us unable to experience due to circumstances that our lives won't allow - and for that I'm so very thankful.

I feel so terrible for Corbin and his family, I hope they can maybe find comfort knowing he lost his life doing what he loved. Not that it offers any solace on this terrible day. Lives lost that could have been avoided - a terrible, tragic day.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[OKStorm]

At 2:06 into video he ran stop sign just a bad habit. Cost was 3 lives too high to drive like that. 

[nwohweather]

Fame honestly should have nothing whatsoever to do with this.

Sure it should the man was one of the best

[mappy]

Awfully sad situation. 

[Hazey]

Ran at least a few stop signs over the course of that video feed. They were just dying to catch up to these storms. Shame but when you take gambles, sometimes you loose.

[Natester]

16 minutes ago, Hazey said:

Ran at least a few stop signs over the course of that video feed. They were just dying to catch up to these storms. Shame but when you take gambles, sometimes you loose.

Exactly.  It's not worth the risk.

[David Reimer]

Just because an individual was a chaser on a network doesn't mean he was experienced. It wasn't a secret that TWC literally found some newish chaser off the street and made him into a 'star'. Kelly Williamson was a nice guy, but yesterday proved he was a damn fool.

[SmokeEater]

Extremely sad, but I have to look at it from a firefighter's standpoint. I treat this just as bad as a drunk driver. These guys are around storms on a daily basis, and should more then know better. This isn't the first time I've seen them blow stop signs like that, and this time they took an innocent life with them. They had no clue the stop sign was even there, even until the stream cuts out. They were making normal conversation. They weren't accelerating hard to get away from the collision, they didn't even react at all. They were accelerating like the stop sign wasn't there. Chasers better think long and hard about how they drive after this one, because this isn't like El Reno whatsoever, this was completely negligent and avoidable. And when it comes to TWC not mentioning Corbin, I don't know the legal ramifications, not defending them, but maybe they are hesitant to mention his name because of that. I can almost guarantee his family is going to sue. It's an open and shut case. What erks me more is the people all over social media who are mourning Kelley and Randy and not even mentioning Corbin's name at all like he didn't exist, because the other two were well known tv chasers.

[mappy]

5 minutes ago, SmokeEater said:

Extremely sad, but I have to look at it from a firefighter's standpoint. I treat this just as bad as a drunk driver. These guys are around storms on a daily basis, and should more then know better. This isn't the first time I've seen them blow stop signs like that, and this time they took an innocent life with them. They had no clue the stop sign was even there, even until the stream cuts out. They were making normal conversation. They weren't accelerating hard to get away from the collision, they didn't even react at all. They were accelerating like the stop sign wasn't there. Chasers better think long and hard about how they drive after this one, because this isn't like El Reno whatsoever, this was completely negligent and avoidable. And when it comes to TWC not mentioning Corbin, I don't know the legal ramifications, not defending them, but maybe they are hesitant to mention his name because of that. I can almost guarantee his family is going to sue. It's an open and shut case. What erks me more is the people all over social media who are mourning Kelley and Randy and not even mentioning Corbin's name at all like he didn't exist, because the other two were well known tv chasers.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Agree 100% 

[the ghost of leroy]

Chasers have to police their own. Stop lauding these guys who run around like maniacs. 

[Msalgado]

1 hour ago, cmasty1978 said:

Chasers have to police their own. Stop lauding these guys who run around like maniacs. 

Chasers don't approve of these guys acting in this way, but chasers aren't the fan base either.  I chase as often as I can, but I almost NEVER watch streams of other chasers.  Just don't see the point as it feels like a cheap substitute.  And how do we police our own anyway?  I can't hand out a ticket when I see a chaser do something stupid on the road.  

[SluggerWx]

1 hour ago, SmokeEater said:

Extremely sad, but I have to look at it from a firefighter's standpoint. I treat this just as bad as a drunk driver. These guys are around storms on a daily basis, and should more then know better. This isn't the first time I've seen them blow stop signs like that, and this time they took an innocent life with them. They had no clue the stop sign was even there, even until the stream cuts out. They were making normal conversation. They weren't accelerating hard to get away from the collision, they didn't even react at all. They were accelerating like the stop sign wasn't there. Chasers better think long and hard about how they drive after this one, because this isn't like El Reno whatsoever, this was completely negligent and avoidable. And when it comes to TWC not mentioning Corbin, I don't know the legal ramifications, not defending them, but maybe they are hesitant to mention his name because of that. I can almost guarantee his family is going to sue. It's an open and shut case. What erks me more is the people all over social media who are mourning Kelley and Randy and not even mentioning Corbin's name at all like he didn't exist, because the other two were well known tv chasers.

This is extremely well said.

[JoMo]

My local news stations are all about Kelley Williamson and Randy today since they lived in Cassville, which, is actually pretty close to the 10% hatched tornado today.

Story about Kelley Williamson. He usually doesn't drive, his partner does, but he was apparently the driver yesterday.

http://www.kspr.com/content/news/Remembering-storm-chaser-Kelley-Williamson-killed-in-crash-in-Texas-417400153.html

[Chargers09]

5 hours ago, nwohweather said:

 

 

Sure it should the man was one of the best

 

Their negligence killed an innocent driver in another vehicle.

[brettjrob]

2 hours ago, cmasty1978 said:

Chasers have to police their own. Stop lauding these guys who run around like maniacs. 

I don't know how cleanly Williamson could be lumped into the "media chaser" category, but they're a whole different breed. Anecdotally, they are far more likely to drive with utter recklessness that far exceeds just mild speeding and such. I didn't know Williamson and hadn't followed his streams before yesterday, but as far as local TV chasers in the OKC market: they think they own the road and that their "mission" is on par with a first responder or LEO. Amazingly, LEOs themselves seem to treat them with deference in some cases and protect their recklessness. And, more to your point, they're generally not concerned with the approval of the so-called chaser community; any criticism from there is just "jealousy," after all. They'll still have their fans' and groupies' unwavering support no matter what, the nerds be damned.

Unfortunately, I think the delusion of true importance is common among media chasers streaming live video to any sizable audience. It's one thing to be motivated by catching the storm for your own satisfaction, but when you can justify extraordinary risks with "the audience is counting on me," things tend to get kicked up another notch. It's worst among traditional on-air TV chasers (of which KW was one), but probably applies to a lot of the more popular web streaming guys, too. I love watching streams of good storms I'm not under, but the whole culture and mindset surrounding high-profile, mass-market-seeking, narrated streaming simultaneously turns my stomach.

[Wmsptwx]

RIP to all involved. Dark day for sure.

[bjc0303]

4 hours ago, David Reimer said:

Just because an individual was a chaser on a network doesn't mean he was experienced. It wasn't a secret that TWC literally found some newish chaser off the street and made him into a 'star'. Kelly Williamson was a nice guy, but yesterday proved he was a damn fool.

Was he driving? 

 

Their vehicle was certainly at fault..especially whoever was driving. Shameful of TWC. Corbin could have been literally anyone - chaser or not. It is difficult for me to be sympathetic towards two of the three killed when they were absolutely at fault and driving recklessly.

 

Yes - recklessly. You have one job when you're driving. Missed stop sign. Do the little things right and all three are alive. 

 

As has already been said by some... it is almost disgusting the # of social media posts I've seen "grieving" the losses of KW and his partner as if they were some sort of heroes. Whoever above compared it to drunk driving - I agree wholeheartedly. If these guys survived they would be facing jail time. 

 

Were they good people? probably. But they also needlessly took another person's life. 

[Hoosier]

14 minutes ago, bjc0303 said:

Was he driving? 

 

Their vehicle was certainly at fault..especially whoever was driving. Shameful of TWC. Corbin could have been literally anyone - chaser or not. It is difficult for me to be sympathetic towards two of the three killed when they were absolutely at fault and driving recklessly.

 

Yes - recklessly. You have one job when you're driving. Missed stop sign. Do the little things right and all three are alive. 

 

As has already been said by some... it is almost disgusting the # of social media posts I've seen "grieving" the losses of KW and his partner as if they were some sort of heroes. Whoever above compared it to drunk driving - I agree wholeheartedly. If these guys survived they would be facing jail time. 

 

Were they good people? probably. But they also needlessly took another person's life. 

According to the official release, Williamson was driving and was the one who was ejected.  It seems pretty certain that he was the driver unless their identities somehow got mixed up.

You brought up a good point about Corbin. It could've been anyone. What if it had been a family with young kids? Sad situation all around, with Corbin's death being particularly tragic.   

[Natester]

Here's something that I just realized that is very disturbing.  At the very end of the stream when it cuts out the little thing on the lower right of the picture is Corbin Jaeger's Jeep.  I've circled it and labeled it so that you can see.  The speed limit on FM2794 is 70 mph, same as FM419.  Utterly impossible for ANYONE to survive a crash like that.