Lightning Strike Kills Colo. Motorcyclist

AP ^ | 6/22/06

[Semper Vigilantis]

The first email I received this AM ended with the line "...was wearing a helmet".

[Right Wing Assault]

This will be unusual if true as most bikers have rubber foot pegs, rubber handle grips and wear rubber sole boots

Rubber that thin provides NO protection at all. Remember, this lightning bolt may have traveled 2, 3, or even 10 miles through the air on its way to the ground. An inch of rubber will not stop it. It will either penetrate the rubber or go around it. That's how it gets from the bike to the road. It just jumps from the metal rim to the pavement. Also, at the voltages involved with lightning, anywhere from 100 million to 1 billion volts, just about everything becomes a conductor.

[Darnright]

>A motorcyclist died after he was struck by lightning while riding in rush hour traffic between Denver and Boulder, police said.<

Poor guy! I wonder if he was struck while he was still, with his feet on the ground?

Could he have been struck when he was in motion, with his feet on the motorcycle? Wouldn't the rubber tires have protected him?

[Darnright]

Thanks for the explanation.

[TChris]

No matter where you are, the Rovian Weather Machine (RWM) will get you.

[American Quilter]

Many people begin hikes and activity early morning to avoid the afternoon lightening and storms.

And when friends are coming to visit me, I tell them to make sure they book flights that land before 3:00 p.m. Of course, with the soul-scouring drought we've been in for several years, the storms are much less frequent, but it's not something about which you want to be careless.

[TLOne]

That's what you get for being a DUmmie troll.

Negative ions from trolling + tin foil helmet = ZOT!

I could think of worse ways to go though.

Sympathy and prayers to his family.

[American Quilter]

Idiots. Everyone knows that you should use a 1-iron when golfing in a storm.

LOL!

[John W]

The first article I read on this today ended with statement he was wearing a helmet-as though that mattered in this instance.

[bruin66]

"Lookit that thunderstorm! Hey, hand me my 5-iron, willya?"

No, no, no. Get the 1-iron. Even God can't hit a 1-iron.

[wizr]

Guess he wasn't a Rockies fan, hmmm?

[American Quilter]

No matter where you are, the Rovian Weather Machine (RWM) will get you.

Golly, that's right. The vic was probably a democrat.

[spunkets]

"Have you ever heard of this happening before?"

Yes.

" it would be UNUSUAL."

It's not unusual at all. Several thousands of feet of air and a couple feet of rock is a far better insulator than a fraction of an inch of rubber. Once the voltage reaches the breakdown threshold for the bulk of the insulation, the minor details of what's in the way don't matter.

[Clara Lou]

I was watching a Discovery Channel, and there was a show about lightning. There was a man who documented to have been struck by lightning 5 or more times. One time, he was sitting in his pickup truck with the window down. As I recall he was a park ranger or game warden.

[G.Mason]

"This will be unusual if true as most bikers have rubber foot pegs, rubber handle grips and wear rubber sole boots or at least the ones that i know including myself."

Not to mention rubber tires.

Unless the cycle was dragging a chain or some other grounding device on the pavement there is no way he could have been charged. JMHO

[AxelPaulsenJr]

[taxed2death]

"At least the story did not end with whether or not he was wearing a helmet."

If he was, I'm sure that what killed him!