Motorcyclist survives lightning hit on U.S. 285

[kyle]

My girlfriend came across this story and shared it with me. Pretty unbelievable. Hope the guy recovers fully.

Motorcyclist survives lightning hit on U.S. 285

 

[rsw81]

Wow, what are the odds. The bleed from his tear ducts, nose, and ears is not a good sign as the blood in the ears usually indicates a serious fracture in his skull. Hope he is doing alright. Please update the post with any other articles you can find about his status.

 

[Motogiro]

Ouch! Man, I hope he makes it! He probably never knew what happened except for the charge build up. Right before a strike you'll generally feel all your hair stand up as the potential builds. If you feel that, make yourself into a ball on the ground. You may not understand what's going to happen at that moment. You just know something's real different. The hole in his head is an entry/exit wound where the energy passed and probably did a lot of damage as evident from the tear ducts bleeding. There are other networks that get scrambled in the body and many times the internal organs fail and won't come back. Even if he lives he'll still need some miracles.

 

[fureinku]

woowee, ive been caught in a wicked out of the blue storm once.. i was too busy worrying about sliding in the rain i didnt even think about lighting.. hope he pulls through, thats a helluva story to be able to tell

 

[Popeye70]

Sadly, he died 3 days later: Lightning-struck motorcyclist dies in Denver hospital. :shakehead:

 

[Humperdinkel]

Sadly, he died 3 days later: Lightning-struck motorcyclist dies in Denver hospital. :shakehead:

Very sad end to what was an amazing story

 

[Tailgate]

So, some education please. What's the verdict: don't ride if there's lightening? Is it in ("un") advisable?

 

[Have2BeFree]

RIP Rider

Your hair doesn't ALWAYS stand up on end and you don't always know that something is going to happen. I was struck by lightning while hiking 10 years ago. The lightning hit the bedrock 50' in front of me and traveled up through me. It knocked me unconscious and when I came to I was paralyzed and couldn't move for about 5-10 minutes (and I still had to hike 4 miles back down the mountain!). I was very, very lucky since it wasn't a direct hit. The odds of surviving a direct lightning hit are extremely slim

I refuse to ride my bike if there are thunderstorms in the area. If you are close enough to hear thunder, you are close enough to get struck by lightning. SEEK SHELTER.

Below is a link. The site has a lot of info regarding lightning safety:

Personal Lightning Safety Section Contents - National Lightning Safety Institute

 

[mxgolf]

Wow that's scarry and sad. RIP

 

[Motogiro]

RIP Rider

Your hair doesn't ALWAYS stand up on end and you don't always know that something is going to happen. I was struck by lightning while hiking 10 years ago. The lightning hit the bedrock 50' in front of me and traveled up through me. It knocked me unconscious and when I came to I was paralyzed and couldn't move for about 5-10 minutes (and I still had to hike 4 miles back down the mountain!). I was very, very lucky since it wasn't a direct hit. The odds of surviving a direct lightning hit are extremely slim

I refuse to ride my bike if there are thunderstorms in the area. If you are close enough to hear thunder, you are close enough to get struck by lightning. SEEK SHELTER.

Below is a link. The site has a lot of info regarding lightning safety:

Personal Lightning Safety Section Contents - National Lightning Safety Institute

Thank you for the link!
I agree your hair probably doesn't always stand up and you probably don't always know something's about to happen because lightening strikes are very unpredictable and there are other secondary scenarios to the epicenter of a strike. My wife's experience and recollection was different and she did remember everything leading up to and after her lightning experience. The hair thing included.
Once I took some florescent lamps, earth grounded one end and hooked the other end to the feed line of a 400 foot dipole antenna. There was a thunderstorm I could hear in the distance. At each lighting of the lamps, I would count the time in seconds for the thunder clap to reach me and the lamps were lighting just off the current that was being generating from the electromagnetic field from strikes over a mile away!
One of my son's walked into the room I was doing the experiment in and asked what I was doing as the florescents flashed. I told him and he ran to his mom and she got the rest of the kids and left the house. He would always run to his mom when I was doing something he never saw me do and say, Mom! Dad's Crazy!" Normally she would just chuckle, roll her eyes and tell him, "Yes Jay, your Dad's Nuts!"
Over a mile away was close enough for me and I tossed the feedline to it's safe, grounded, system which was outside the house and got every one back in the house. :rockon:

 

[rsw81]

Thank you for the link!
I agree your hair probably doesn't always stand up and you probably don't always know something's about to happen because lightening strikes are very unpredictable and there are other secondary scenarios to the epicenter of a strike. My wife's experience and recollection was different and she did remember everything leading up to and after her lightning experience. The hair thing included.
Once I took some florescent lamps, earth grounded one end and hooked the other end to the feed line of a 400 foot dipole antenna. There was a thunderstorm I could hear in the distance. At each lighting of the lamps, I would count the time in seconds for the thunder clap to reach me and the lamps were lighting just off the current that was being generating from the electromagnetic field from strikes over a mile away!
One of my son's walked into the room I was doing the experiment in and asked what I was doing as the florescents flashed. I told him and he ran to his mom and she got the rest of the kids and left the house. He would always run to his mom when I was doing something he never saw me do and say, Mom! Dad's Crazy!" Normally she would just chuckle, roll her eyes and tell him, "Yes Jay, your Dad's Nuts!"
Over a mile away was close enough for me and I tossed the feedline to it's safe, grounded, system which was outside the house and got every one back in the house. :rockon:

Only you cliff would play with lightening... haha. Sad to hear this fellow passed away, but that's what I thought would happen. Not only from the lightening strike, but from his subsequent injuries from the motorcycle accident.

 

[robaho]

So, some education please. What's the verdict: don't ride if there's lightening? Is it in ("un") advisable?

IMHO it is not worth the risk to ride during a thunderstorm. The chances of being zapped are pretty small, but why take the chance? Plus, most thunderstorms are accompanied by higher winds and heavier rain.
There are some risk factors that we do have control over as a rider, and some we don't.... We should work to eliminate the risk factors that we do have control over!

 

[Have2BeFree]

Thank you for the link!
I agree your hair probably doesn't always stand up and you probably don't always know something's about to happen because lightening strikes are very unpredictable and there are other secondary scenarios to the epicenter of a strike. My wife's experience and recollection was different and she did remember everything leading up to and after her lightning experience. The hair thing included.
Once I took some florescent lamps, earth grounded one end and hooked the other end to the feed line of a 400 foot dipole antenna. There was a thunderstorm I could hear in the distance. At each lighting of the lamps, I would count the time in seconds for the thunder clap to reach me and the lamps were lighting just off the current that was being generating from the electromagnetic field from strikes over a mile away!
One of my son's walked into the room I was doing the experiment in and asked what I was doing as the florescents flashed. I told him and he ran to his mom and she got the rest of the kids and left the house. He would always run to his mom when I was doing something he never saw me do and say, Mom! Dad's Crazy!" Normally she would just chuckle, roll her eyes and tell him, "Yes Jay, your Dad's Nuts!"
Over a mile away was close enough for me and I tossed the feedline to it's safe, grounded, system which was outside the house and got every one back in the house. :rockon:

You are nuts!

If you count the seconds between the flash of lightning and the boom of the thunder, it is 5 seconds for each mile. So if you count to 10 the thunderstorm is 2 miles away. Within two miles is the most dangerous zone. Lightning can travel cloud to cloud for 20 miles before coming down to strike - the same weekend I got hit by lightning two guys were playing football on a beach in NJ. No rain or storms in sight and one got struck and killed by lightning. Cloud to cloud lightning is the most dangerous and unpredictable.

Here's another link for you. It shows lightning strikes for the last hour in the US

Intellicast - Lightning Strikes in United States

 

[Motogiro]

You are nuts!

If you count the seconds between the flash of lightning and the boom of the thunder, it is 5 seconds for each mile. So if you count to 10 the thunderstorm is 2 miles away. Within two miles is the most dangerous zone. Lightning can travel cloud to cloud for 20 miles before coming down to strike - the same weekend I got hit by lightning two guys were playing football on a beach in NJ. No rain or storms in sight and one got struck and killed by lightning. Cloud to cloud lightning is the most dangerous and unpredictable.

Here's another link for you. It shows lightning strikes for the last hour in the US

Intellicast - Lightning Strikes in United States

Yes lightning is fascinating! I think the speed of sound has been standardized at 1096 feet per second at 70 deg. 70 percent humidity at sea level. rounded off 1100 FPS.
Your car is a pretty safe place because you are basically shielded and not because your rubber tires insulate you. Except for convertibles.
The motorcycle is not a safe place in an electrical storm.
Here's an example of shielding.....
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi4kXgDBFhw&feature=related]YouTube - Tesla cage of death[/ame]

 

[Motogiro]

Here's another interesting video. Although the reporter is not exactly correct as to why you're safer in a car.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KApHillC_-8&feature=related]YouTube - Lightning Bolt Strike![/ame]