Originally Posted by
jtgotsjets
I think it is you that lacks common sense. Given the statistics we've been talking about, fewer than 200 people are struck by lightning every year. This includes everyone who is sitting alone in the middle of soccer fields during thunderstorms. How many people do you think go outside in the middle of thunderstorms in year? It's still less than 200 of those people that get struck every year.
As everyone has already explained, you can take steps to reduce the risk of lightning strike, but in every case there are factors that are far more dangerous and likely to kill you that demand your attention.
The trouble with your statistic of 200 strikes is that its so general as to be near useless.
Those levels of risk are not the same as the odds. This is simply because lightning poses almost no danger to the majority of americans inside cars and buildings or on sheltered streets.
Lets say the war in iraq kills 400 americans each year.
If you don't differentiate the samples then you are saying the risk of being killed by the war in iraq while sitting in a rush hour traffic jam is the same as driving in a hummer on some iraqi street.
The levels of risk are not the same. It is not like you'll be sitting on a LA freeway and suddenly die in an IED attack. The same is true for the lightning, it is not like you'll be inside cooking dinner and suddenly be struck down by lightning. You are far more likely to die in an Iraqi IED attack when you are in iraq - you are far more likely to be struck by lightning when you are cycling through an open field while one is going on.
What you are doing, telling people it is no big deal to ride through a lightning storm is irresponsible.