Rubber tires on your automobile (or rubber sole shoes) insulate you from lightning strikes.
	NOT TRUE!!! Tires (or rubber sole shoes) offer NO PROTECTION whatsoever from lightning strikes.
Actually, it is the steel in the automobile which can provide you with protection from lightning. Lightning will take the easiest path between two points and air is a good insulator to electricity, almost as good as rubber. When lightning strikes the roof of a car, the easiest path to the ground is through the outside metal skin surrounding the vehicle, not through it. If you are in a hardtop vehicle, you are protected from the dangers of lightning. However, you are reminded that this applies to HARDTOP ONLY vehicles and not convertibles. A convertibles offers NO protection from lightning strikes. And rubber sole shoes are just as ineffective as convertibles in insulating you from the dangers of lightning. If you can hear thunder, then lightning is near enough that YOU can be struck. Follow these lightning safety rules...
	SEEK SHELTER INDOORS IMMEDIATELY! Get inside a home, large building or a hardtop automobile (not a convertible). Once inside a home, do not use the telephone except for emergencies.
	Do not stand under trees. Lone trees and telephone poles are most susceptible to lightning. While groups of trees will offer some protection, you need to avoid trees altogether. There have been several instances where groups of people have been injured by lightning while they sought shelter from the rain under trees.
	DO NOT LIE FLAT ON THE GROUND!!! If you are caught outside and you feel or see your hair stand up then lightning may be about to strike you. IMMEDIATELY DO THIS!!! Squat down as low as you can on the balls of your feet (see illustration right). Remain in that position until one of two things happen; either lightning strikes nearby or the tingling sensation you feel from your hair dissipates. Why not lay flat on the ground? When lightning strikes the ground it does not instantly go below the surface but forks out in many different directions along the surface from the point of contact as much as twenty feet. This is usually how groups of people are struck by lightning. If you were laying flat on the ground, you risk a much greater chance of one of those forks reaching a part of your body. What you want to do is minimize contact with the ground area while getting as low to the ground as possible.
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