WRT^
"...At least in a vehicle, you can try to head at right angles to its perceived path. Or possibly outrun it."
Bolding added.
Well, sure, but your crazy other driver scenario is true anyhow, tornado or no tornado. And your remark about those tornado chasers is irrelevant since they weren't trying to escape in the first place.
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.
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. They aren't looking for Rocket Man, after all. "Hey, there's Rocket Man's car ! Let's go git 'im!"
But it depends on what you guess your chances are. Do you hit with 17 in Blackjack?
Perd did not go into great detail on the situation, so his choice may have been perfectly valid, even under a "warning" alert. I just wanted to comment on the notion that it seemed automatic. May have been a good choice given the exact situation.
Terry taps his cards. "Hit me."
Dealer skids card to Terry. "Oh, *expletive deleted*it. A five."
Terry, 230RN