The rainy season is coming, how to stay safe when driving in the rain?

While driving on the road and encountering wind and rain with thunder and lightning, should I continue? Is the risk of being struck by lightning while driving high?

To analyze the risk of being struck by lightning while traveling, vehicles can be temporarily divided into two types: cars and motorbikes.

A lightning strike hit a moving car in the US - (Photo: LSM).

With cars, experts from the National Weather Service Center (USA) say that sitting in hard-top cars is quite safe even when driving in the rain with lightning, even in case of being hit by lightning.

Because the metal chassis will act as a Faraday cage . This is the concept of a device that is sealed with a layer of conductive material to block electromagnetic fields.

Thanks to that, in the unfortunate event of a lightning strike, the electric current will flow through the metal surface of hard-top vehicles and go to the ground without affecting the people inside. Note that this principle does not apply to convertible cars.

However, according to Dr. Anne Helmenstine from the University of Tennessee (USA), even if the driver is safe, lightning can damage the exterior and electrical system of the car. In fact, there have even been a number of cases where cars were seriously damaged by lightning and could not be repaired.

Mr. Justin Pritchard - technical expert of the business company Auto Trader (Canada) - advises that if lightning strikes a car, you should stay in the car because most hardtop cars will follow the Faraday cage principle, helping the occupants. The inside is protected. 

About 30 minutes after the last thunderclap ends, contact the insurance company to check and repair the vehicle.

A lightning strike on the road in Massachusetts (USA) - Photo: FOX NEWS

With motorbikes , according to experts, accidents caused by lightning are quite common with many incidents recorded worldwide. Recently, in March 2024, a motorcyclist was seriously injured after being struck by lightning while competing in Wise County, Texas (USA).

In Vietnam, on the afternoon of May 19, a man was killed by lightning while riding a motorbike in a thunderstorm in Giao Hai commune, Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province.

The National Weather Service Center (USA) analyzes that motorbikes running in urban areas have a much lower chance of being directly hit by lightning than on suburban roads. Because lightning often follows the shortest path to the ground and will often strike the highest objects in the area.

In urban areas, lightning is easier to "find" high-rise buildings, trees, electric poles. than pedestrians. Therefore, most lightning accidents that strike motorcyclists often occur in open road areas, surrounded by few houses and trees.

However, in urban areas, the risk during thunderstorms also lies in other accidents such as falling trees, falling electricity poles. Therefore, according to blogger Jon Vinnzi who specializes in writing about motorbikes, when encountering a thunderstorm accompanied by lightning on the road, it is good. It is best to stop and find a safe shelter.

If you are outdoors and have no shelter nearby, find a lower area and stay away from tall, isolated objects such as "lonely" trees or utility poles. Do not stop at high places such as bridge tops, hill tops. because these places increase the risk of being struck by lightning.

Also, stay away from metal fences, power lines, and other outdoor electronic devices because they can conduct electricity from lightning strikes.

After hearing the last thunderclap, wait at least 30 minutes before leaving the rain shelter to ensure safety.

Readers share how to avoid lightning strikes when traveling

Related to the story of avoiding attracting lightning to yourself when walking, reader Phong Vu shares some notes:

1. One is that the tires must be black rubber because it has a lot of conductive carbon dust, not the high heat-resistant black type with a lot of silica of racing tires, and especially for bicycles, you should never ride it. Pink or white tires go out on the road when it rains and you can hear thunder roaring.
2. Second, the raincoat must be anti-static, meaning it has conductive fibers woven into the fabric.
3. Third, the helmet worn on the head must also be of anti-static material.
4. Fourth, you must touch your body or raincoat to the metal side of the vehicle. Many motorbikes from some sources do not have a thorough understanding of safety techniques, so the design of the seat, the handlebar grip, and the body of the vehicle, where the body and raincoat fall down, touch non-insulating plastic materials. mixed with a conductive substance to prevent static electricity, making the entire body and raincoat completely insulated from the metal part of the car's side, which conducts electricity through the soot in the tire to the road surface to drain static electricity.

When insulated like this, people wearing helmets and raincoats that are not anti-static, quickly gliding in dust and rain, rubbing against water droplets, which are polar materials, can easily accumulate a lot of static electricity.

The voltage on helmets and raincoats can be hundreds of thousands of volts different from the ground, putting the body at risk of becoming an electric field highlight that strongly attracts lightning.