Thread: lightning
View Single Post
Old 04-05-10 | 06:29 PM
  #20  
wahoonc's Avatar
wahoonc
Membership Not Required
 
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 16,853
Likes: 18
From: On the road-USA

Bikes: Giant Excursion, Raleigh Sports, Raleigh R.S.W. Compact, Motobecane? and about 20 more! OMG

Originally Posted by cerewa
You link to some news articles that point out that people really do die from lightning strikes. The thing is, although these events are noteworthy (in the sense of, they make the news and people find them interesting) they are partly noteworthy because they are so unusual.

I don't know the statistics, but I would be interested to see...

is the difference between your chances of being killed riding in a rainstorm without lightning versus riding in a rainstorm with lightning negligible / insignificant?
It's not that I think it is all that safe to ride in a lightning storm - it's that I think perhaps most of the risk comes from getting on the road and sharing it with cars (cars kill 40,000 per year in the usa), rather than the lightning (kills ~58 per year in the usa).
I agree that cars are more of a problem. As pointed out earlier, the part of the country I ride in the storms typically come in cells, and I will normally wait them out.

Aaron
__________________
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(

ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.

"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"
_Nicodemus

"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"
_krazygluon
wahoonc is offline  
Reply