Indiana Passes an Important Law
Well Indiana just had the first statewide bill signed into law :) stating that starting after June 30th, new manufactured homes must have weather radios installed in them. I don't know if the noise that I and many others made back in 2000 might have contributed to the idea catching hold - I do know that the woman that spearheaded the drive there lost a son in a severe storm and I hope that this success leads to some closure and a sense of satisfaction for perhaps preventing future harm.
Way to go Indiana!
Well Indiana just had the first statewide bill signed into law :) stating that starting after June 30th, new manufactured homes must have weather radios installed in them.
Congrat's Richard
Now put your efforts in that all trailer parks must have shelter's big enough to hold all that live there. Without them weather radio's won't do them any good with NWS "partial county alert's".
My point is that this is awesome for those who use it and worth it for those who actually change the batteries more often than once a year.
And although it's probably rare... some trailer parks have protective bunkers that do offer protection if you get the warning QUICK enough. Thus, lets get these people some weather radios.
Time will tell the effectiveness of this law, I see good results in the future.
(ps: natural selection has plenty of other oppertunities)
Bottom line is we see people are apathetic when it comes to this issue. It becomes news when a major tornado strikes a populated area and there are many injuries or fatalities (recently Eagle Pass, Evansville, Andover, etc.) then we forget about it and move on with our lives. Unforunately with my work through the EOC, I've found this line of thinking to be present in many individual's minds. So basically your guess might be as good as mine when it comes to resolving this issue IF it could ever be fully resolved.
But then they have choosen to have their head stuck in the sand. Around here we have large displays of weather radios at many of the grocery stores right at the check outs. The TV weathermen mention it often during regualr forecasts and storm coverage and their yearly severe weather shows. I also see numerous public service announcements about them during shows in primetime to syndicated shows like Oprah and Springer.
I guess these are the same group which cannot figure out school is closed when we have a foot of snow on the ground. Rather than using common sense and listen to local radio (announce every 5 minutes) or TV (constant scrolling updates), they call the school and ask. Duh!
I'm skeptical that you will see any statistically significant increase in safety from this law. The law just says they have to be installed, it doesn't say people have to use them or even know how to use them.
Think about smoke detectors. Fires kill thousands of Americans every year, and smoke detectors save many more thousands. They require no programming and there are almost no false alarms. Yet, people still don't use them.
Now look at tornados. They probably kill 1/1000th less often than fires. Weather radios require programming, they need to be turned on, and the volume needs to be set. I'd like to see the statistics on people who shutdown their weather radio after the first false alarm at 2am.
I think you would be quite surprised at how many people actually have no clue that "weather radio" is or that it even exists. I would guess that some 80-90% of the population has no clue ... again, just a guess.
But then they have choosen to have their head stuck in the sand.
Personal responsibility. It seems so many people no longer want to be responsible for their own actions. People know what storms are capable of and people know how easy it is to pick up a weather radio and they just don’t do it. (If someone truly was financially strapped and could not afford a radio, I have no problem providing them with a radio or supporting a charity that does it.)
Radios need programmed and maintained in working order. So what if someone has a radio. What if it isn’t programmed correctly or stops working. What happens next? It will take someone with personal responsibility to take care of it and we already discussed that above.
The state has said I am less important. The state is not making someone put a weather radio in my home. So I guess my life isn’t worth saving. It figures… (Oh crap – I have personal responsibility. I guess I showed them.)
Where do people go during a storm? So let’s go back to the Evansville incident which is what prompted the mother and her fight for this new law. Let’s put a working radio in every home. Now everyone has been alerted to a deadly tornado heading their way…
Now where do they go? They have a flimsy home and need to get out. Is the law addressing this? Nope?
A better law would be mandate mobile home communities have a shelter for everyone and a siren to alert them. Yes, we would not address those who have a manufactured home and live on their own but they need to see my first statement and get themselves a big help of it!
Maybe next we will pass a law to have us slow down and move over to the left when we pass a law enforcement officer along side of the road. Opps, I guess we already did since people have no common sense.
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |