Fact or myth: Your rubber tires will stop lightning from striking your car.

If you answered “myth”, you’re correct! Many people believe that rubber tires will protect them while driving through a lightning storm, but this is not the case. Surprisingly, it is your car’s metal body that could offer a level of protection.

If you’re caught in a storm while driving, you are safest in an enclosed, metal vehicle. (This means hard-topped cars with all of the windows shut.) If your car is struck by lightning, the current will flow through the metal body of the vehicle to the ground. Open and soft-topped vehicles (e.g., Jeeps, convertibles) will not provide as much protection. For this reason, try to avoid driving in an open or soft-topped vehicle if you know a storm is coming.

Here are some additional tips to help keep you safe if you’re driving through a storm:

• Heavy rain caused by storms can reduce your visibility and create dangerous road conditions. If possible, pull off at the nearest exit and find shelter.
• If there is no shelter around and you must stay on the road, pull over, turn off your engine, and turn on your hazard lights while you wait out the storm.
• Do not touch anything metal inside of your car. This includes the radio, cell phone chargers, mobile GPS devices, door handles, and the steering wheel. Staying away from metal objects can help keep you safe if lightning strikes your car.
• If you’re on a motorcycle or a bicycle, do not seek shelter underneath trees. While trees may provide cover from the rain, this will greatly increase your risk of being struck by lightning.
• As long as your car is of conventional metal construction, you can be. Here's how to stay protected in your car during a lightning storm.

  A complete metal shield is necessary for full protection – so if you're stranded during a lightning storm, take cover inside a car with the windows wound up.

• Convertibles do not afford sufficient protection, even with the roof closed. A cloth top will not form a complete Faraday cage either and won't be safe.
• Fibreglass-bodied cars are not safe as the outside body needs to be conductive to form a Faraday cage and fibreglass is an insulator.
• The person in the car must not be touching any metal object in the car.
• Door and window handles, radio dials, CB microphones, steering wheels, and other inside-to-outside metal objects should be left alone during close-in lightning events.
• Small riding mowers and golf buggies are examples of unsafe vehicles.

The USA's National Lightning Safety Institute also recommends pulling off to the side of the road in a safe manner, turning on the hazard lights, turning off the engine, putting your hands in your lap, and waiting out the storm. This is probably only required in the most extreme conditions.

The Royal Meteorological Society states that:

‘Ninety per cent of lightning discharges go from cloud to cloud or between parts of the same cloud, never actually reaching the Earth [and] most of the discharges that do strike the ground cause little or no damage or harm.’

What happens when struck by lightning in your car?

Back in the day, the Top Gear team created an experiment to find out what it would be like if you were struck by lightning while in your car. Richard Hammond was hit by 600,000 volts of nature’s finest while sitting in a Volkswagen Golf. Watch the video to see exactly what happened…