[BC] re: Tornado Warnings & Traffic Reports

[Cowboy]

On Saturday 02 September 2006 06:17 am, First Step Productions - Dave Golterman wrote:

> How hard is it to familiarize yourself with a dozen or so  
> counties in a 100 mile radius of where you live?

 Depends on how long you've lived there.
 We live in an extremely mobile society, in spite of some who
 ( much to my surprise ) have never been more than 15 miles from
 where they were born.

> If you're traveling,  
> carry a map that includes county names and boundaries. 

 Do they have those at rental car counters ?

 It sounds like a simple solution, transferring "in the public interest,
 convenience and necessity" from the broadcaster to the public themselves,
 but it's neither in the public interest, nor convenience.

 If I've just arrived in San Antonio, for instance, "The northwest corner
 of Bexar county" means absolutely nothing to me. It wasn't until the next day
 that I learned I'd been driving directly into it, all the while wondering what
 county I might be near, and how much danger I might be in, as well as
 hoping I was driving out of it at the time.

 While "Near Marshallville" might mean something to me, and "eastern Wayne County"
 is misleading, "18 miles southwest of downtown Akron" will mean something
 to absolutely anyone that hears it, while "14 miles northeast of Wooster" wouldn't
 mean much to me even though it's the same spot, and I've lived here over 50 years.

 Carrying a map with county boundaries ( try and find one ) while driving up 585 ( a two lane
 rural highway ) in a blinding rain at night, even if you did that, isn't going to help you
 with a tornado when you need to know NOW.

 Of course, if you're killed by a tornado, you probably won't be filling out a diary anyway......

-- 
Cowboy