Lightning
You are out for a ride
and a storm blows in. Should you ride out the storm? If not, what
should you do?
No doubt you have heard that because your
tires are made of rubber, and because rubber is not a good
electrical conductor, so long as you keep your feet on the pegs
lightning will not hit you since it cannot find a path to ground
through you and the bike. WRONG!!!
Though rubber is a pretty good insulator at
the normal voltage levels we mere humans deal with, it is not very
effective against the voltage in a lightning bolt.
On the other hand, you may also have heard
that if a lightning bolt hits a car the occupants are safe because
the car is riding on rubber tires, etc. Actually, this is almost
true! So long as the occupants stay away from anything metal they
will more than likely survive a lightning hit without any injury
whatever.
What protects occupants of a cage is not
their rubber tires, but the fact that they are enclosed in a metal
container. If a lightning bolt hits the surface of the car it
spreads around the occupants, NOT THROUGH THEM, and goes to ground.
A lightning bolt that hits you or your
motorcycle is a different matter entirely.
Here’s the magnitudes we are dealing with
here. The master fuse on your bike handles about 30 amps before it
blows. An average lightning bolt produces a current of about 20,000
amps. Even 30 amps can easily kill you because it disrupts your
heart's electrical system and the heart then simply stops working.
Your heart doesn't stand a chance against a lightning bolt.
If you are out in the open on your bike when
lightning flashes begin, and if you can hear the thunder caused by
those flashes and the flashes are less than three seconds from when
you see the flash, it's time to stop your bike and get off it.
• IF there is no building the get shelter
from.
• Immediately find low ground, but NOT under a single or small group
of trees.
• Squat on the ground with your legs together, head lower than back,
but NOT touching the ground.
• Do NOT lie on the ground.
• LET YOUR CLOTHES GET WET!!! (In this way, if you are hit the
majority of the electricity will follow the moisture of your wet
clothes around your body.)
Incidentally, lightning can, and DOES, hit the same place
twice - frequently.
If there are more than 5 seconds between the
lightning flashes and your hearing that thunder, head for shelter.
This is the only time trying to ride out from under an electrical
storm makes any sense.
Best shelter, of course, is a hard covered surface connected to
ground with metal. Get under it and wait out the storm.
