Modern Vespa

The wifey and i went for a cool down ride. Just north of us we could here it start to thunder and lighting. So we headed to the south away from the action. On the return leg all without rain I saw a flash off to my left no bolt of lighting just light then we felt the concussion at the same time we heard the thunder.... I believe... I believe...

Has anyone ever heard of or witnessed a scooter/motorcyclists get struck by lighting???

A quick 'dirty search' of google finds many instances of cyclists, motorcyclists and scooterists both at risk of and having been hit by lightning and then OMG! I came upon this!

http://metro.co.uk/2007/09/24/bikers-penis-hit-by-lightning-176741/

To my knowledge I've never even come close to being struck by lightening that I'm aware of but it does make me nervous being on the scooter in a thunder storm knowing that my head is above midsize and compact cars, trucks and vans, and even with the tops of full size trucks, vans, and SUV's.

I still have to ride it as it's my only transportation.

If you think that is scary try being out on a sailboat - one with a 50' mast. We never got hit but know people who did.

Several years ago myself and two other riders met on a Friday evening at a coffee shop. We left and rode into a thunderstorm; there was a lightening strike near a post office as we rode by and all three of us felt an electric shock run through our hands. Thank goodness not a direct hit, but it was close enough.

I heard you are pretty safe on wheels....The rubber tires act like insulators...
There has been some pretty good boomers around Grand Rapids tonite, too!

I've seen lightening strike a power transformer and suddenly everything went blue then all the power went out...

We had the "Local" BMW mechanic get struck by lightning while on a ride here... Killed him instantly and the bike burnt to the ground... One of those freak accidents that people think "don't happen"

It was of course devastating to his wife and family... Luckily the local cycling community rallied around to support them.

Oddly enough, this is an urban myth and rubber tyres do not prevent lightning strikes or ensure you are safely earthed!

seemed to work ok here ........

It was not the tyres that saved him from the lightning strike, it was the body of the car acting as a faraday cage. No such protection on a scooter or bike!

knew it was a different kettle of fish after i posted it but left it anyhoo ... its cool

This reminded me.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUUOdO6eEZA

Yes there is a purpose for a cage!

So sorry! How horrific!

Can someone explain the physics of this lightning stuff? My poor understanding is that so scooters and motorcycles only have two rubber tyres touching the ground when being ridden. So how come riders being struck by lightning and having negative effects is possible?

If I remember correctly, they say if you're in a car and lightning strikes on the car, you're safe because the rubber tyres won't transmit the electricity to the ground, so electricity can't pass through. So who would it on a scooter (when being ridden, not when the kickstand is down)?

Water is a good conductor of electricity. Most lightening occurs during a rain storm. Because of that you loose the insulating factor of rubber. In a car it hits the car and is transferred to the ground. On a scooter the rider, being the tallest thing, stands a better chance of being struck by the lightening. That's why the riders usually come out on the short end.

Oh and the people in the car don't fare well if their touching metal at the time of the strike on the car

As mentioned above, a car acts like a Faraday cage. When an electric charge hits a metal enclosure all (most) of the charge stays on the outside. On a sailboat the wires that support the mast give a weeny bit of protection, albeit leaky. No such luck on a motorcycle.

Faraday cages can be used to provide an RF (radio frequency radiation) free area for scientific testing.

Nothing to do with rubber tires. Most of which do conduct electricity to ease the static shock when you slide out of the vehicle.

If I have erred in any of this, I am sure some kind soul will point out the error of my ways. (We are good at that here).

I don't think about it at all.
Fate.... if it's gonna happen, its gonna happen.

When you ride a lot, like most of us do, you will end up in a thunderstorm
sometime, even if you plan to avoid them. I once took the wrong exit off the Belt
Parkway in NYC, and got on the exit for the Verrazano bridge during a
lightening thunder storm at night(with two other scooters behind me). It was not my intention to cross the bridge in the first place, let alone in a thunder storm. There was literally lightining all around us, strong wind, and some rain. The view was actually spectacular. Once over the bridge, we all had to turn around and come back over again.






Rob

We rarely have thunder and lightning. Only seen proper lightning once. I had just gotten back from one of the outer islands and turned onto H1 to go home and a huge clap of thunder sound and then a bolt of lightning that took up the whole sky. Top to bottom. Knew something was going to happen. On my way home stopped to get some gas and had just finished fueling when i heard a deafening boom and then everything went black . Whole island went out. Took them weeks to figure out lightning had hit a transformer and then the other ones dropped like dominoes. I could of told them what happened but that's how little we get lightning. We do get the cloud lightning sometimes. CHUB i bet that guy never pisses in a Thunder and Lightning storm again.