# Lightning And Bicycles. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886 "2016-09-13T22:00:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/1 "2016-09-13T22:00:23Z")
Does riding a bike in the rain increase your risks of being struck by lightning, over simply walking? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/2 "2016-09-13T22:07:18Z")
If you are talking about walking down a particular sidewalk or path vs. riding a bicycle down the exact same sidewalk or path, I can’t see any reason why one would be more of a risk than the other. People tend to walk on sidewalks and ride bikes on roads, and the roads are a bit more out in the open. On the other hand, sidewalks often have trees that are a bit closer nearby and trees are basically death magnets during a thunderstorm. You never want to be near a tree when lightning is around. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/3 "2016-09-13T22:08:08Z")
Well, you’re closer to a significant mass of metal. Other than that, I’m not sure what the difference would be. Your head would at about the same height. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/4 "2016-09-13T22:52:15Z")
Assuming you have a fixed starting point and destination, you’re going to be outside for a shorter amount of time on the bicycle, which is to your benefit. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/5 "2016-09-14T00:44:23Z")
On a bike, assuming the tires are rubber and are not wet, you’re not earthed. Would that make a difference? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/6 "2016-09-14T00:51:14Z")
Not in the slightest. The lightning just jumped across 5 miles of open air to get to your head. Do you think the 1/2" of air between the bottom of the bike wheel rims and the road is any kind of obstacle? It’ll go around or through the rubber tires with no issue at all. The reason it’s supposedly safer in a \*car \* in a storm is not that the tires insulate the car from the earth. Instead it’s that \*if \*the car is struck, the vast majority of the energy will flow \*through \*the car body and out the car bottom into the ground instead of rattling around \*inside \*the car and frying you. Unlike a car, with a bike you’re on the outside, not the inside. Which affords no protection at all. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/7 "2016-09-14T19:11:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Not in the slightest. The lightning just jumped across 5 miles of open air to get to your head. Do you think the 1/2" of air between the bottom of the bike wheel rims and the road is any kind of obstacle? It’ll go around or through the rubber tires with no issue at all. While I agree that the bike’s insulation isn’t going to provide any protection against a direct lightning bolt hit, it may provide some help against the effects of an indirect strike nearby. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/8 "2016-09-15T00:11:06Z")
Let me re-phrase the question– Would the odds of being struck go up, near, far, or whatever? Allowing for the shorter time spent traveling the same distance. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/9 "2016-09-15T01:04:41Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Would the odds of being struck go up, near, far, or whatever? > Allowing for the shorter time spent traveling the same distance. Very little difference, hard to say whether the slight difference would be leaning towards more or less likely to get struck. But other factors would overwhelm any difference. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/10 "2016-09-15T01:15:19Z")
I’ll disagree with **Telemark** & support **Chronos**. Per unit of \*time \*there’s no meaningful difference in risk between biking and walking. But your total risk is proportional to how long you spend outside exposed to the storm. So as between biking a mile at 15mph and walking a mile at 3mph, you’ll cover the same \*distance \*but be outside 1/5th as long on the bike and have 1/5th the overall likelihood of getting hit. OTOH, if your idea of fun is to either walk or bike for an hour in a thunderstorm, again there’s no difference in total risk over the hour. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/11 "2016-09-15T01:35:34Z")
[very recent thread on this same question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=802554) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-and-bicycles/765886/12 "2016-09-15T02:19:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Per unit of \*time \*there’s no meaningful difference in risk between biking and walking. > > But your total risk is proportional to how long you spend outside exposed to the storm. We’re in agreement, I think. I interpreted the restated question to be about risk over the same unit of time.