GreenPowered

Concern for commuting during my future commute in Florida led me to this interesting analysis by NOAA. seems like majority or fatalities are around water, like fishing and boating, but not even walking to a car is safe. I guess safest thing is to stay indoors, but if you have to get to work you have to get to work. I take some relief in knowing the majority of thunderstorms are in the afternoon and my time sensitive commute (getting to work) will be very early in the morning. Here is a link to the analysis.

https://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/...ningDeaths.pdf

Hopefully that link works. Interesting read!

Booger1

Fun to read.....I'll get run over 10 times by cars before I get hit by lightening....It sure doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling when riding in a thunder storm.

Not a single person was struck on a bicycle but 14 mowing the lawn...

Quite mowing the lawn and ride your bike....

If your a woman,age 70+,riding in NOV,looks like it impossible to get hit...

CliffordK

According to the article, from 2006 to 2013 (8 years), 261 people died (33 per year) in the USA due to being struck by lightening. (apparently somewhere around 500 people are struck by lightening per year, and only about 10% die from it).

With 300,000,000 people in the USA, that is about a 1 in 10 million chance of getting killed by lightening each year.

Compare that to 33,000 motor vehicle fatalities per year
About 610,000 people die of heart disease every year (1/4 of the total deaths).

I'd rather get out on my bike... and not be in that 1/4 of the deaths due to heart disease.

martianone

Wonder how many tax dollars were wasted developing this tribbage ?

randallovelace

I'm less worried about the lightning than I am of debris blowing across my path...

GreenPowered

Yeah, much more things to worry about than lightning when out on the bike. As someone with a heavy science background I like to have the facts to make me feel better

BikeAnon

CliffordK

One of the problems is what to do when one has no place to go.

There are recommendations not to be in a boat on the water, so take a break from fishing during the thunder storm. Although, even that isn't always easy to do.

I had a former neighbors who decided to sit under a tree to wait out a storm. Unfortunately the tree was struck by lightening killing him. They probably would have been better off being away from trees (and, of course, getting drenched by the storm).

A quick response might have saved him, but since both he and his wife were under the same tree, they both got zapped, and no doubt she would not have been able to provide a quick ER response. Sit under separate trees?

spare_wheel

In 'murica the average person is >6 times more likely to die walking and twice as likely to die falling down stairs than cycling.


Daily chart: Danger of death! | The Economist