And your remark about those tornado chasers is irrelevant since they weren't trying to escape in the first place.
Not really irrelevant, Terry, as that is the training we received. We generally did not try to get up close and personal with tornados, instead we would observe them from a distance and provide reports ("ground truth" as it is called) to the NWS.
However, if we found ourselves surprised by a close-by tornado, our training was to seek immediate shelter. Trying to drive away to escape a close tornado is often impractical if not impossible, especially if you are on a straight stretch of road with no turns or intersections. Many people have been killed trying to escape tornados in their cars.
Certainly, your course of action depends on circumstances, but for the general situation, (A) I wouldn't automatically try to shelter up and (B) My perhaps clouded judgement would be to drive away as noted. I did shelter my camper under an overpass when some really rough weather occurred. I got there just in time, the underpass filled up with other vehicles in a hurry. Tornadoes out in the boonies aren't necessarily reported on newscasts, but holy crap, the sky sure opened up and there was a roaring sound but that could have been the hail.
Overpasses may seem a logical place to shelter from tornados, but in reality they can be very dangerous due to them causing a venturi effect for tornadic winds. Wind speed can actually increase significantly as wind passes under a bridge or overpass, blowing people and vehicles out of the supposed shelter.
These people were darn lucky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHBZylcxIvwThese people were not so lucky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJkDphU5oloOverpasses can be a good place to shelter from large, damaging hail if that is the only threat, however.
Despite the vagaries of tornado direction-taking, if you have any distance from them at all, my estimation is the best bet is to move away from them...the "right angles" has been recommended by Officialdom, for what it's worth.
Yes, "officialdom" does suggest moving away at right angles
if you are sufficiently far away from the tornado, and if the road network allows for that. If you are out on a straight section of highway with no ability to turn off at an angle away from the storm, then you should pull a u-turn and get the hell out of dodge.
If you cannot do a u-turn then you should take immediate shelter outside the vehicle wherever you can find it.
You do not want to be caught in your vehicle in a tornado.They aren't looking for Rocket Man, after all. "Hey, there's Rocket Man's car ! Let's go git 'im!"
My point was that tornadic storms are unpredictable.
