Locks, Keys and Safes: Buying, Repairing and Maintaining

Two Tips to Remember If You Ever Lock Yourself Out of Your Vehicle During a Thunderstorm

If you ever lock yourself out of your car during a thunderstorm, here are some tips that you might want to keep in mind.

Do not lean against your vehicle whilst you wait for the mobile locksmith

In order to get back into your car, you will need to call a mobile locksmith and ask them to travel to your vehicle and use their tools to unlock it. It may take a while for them to reach you. Whilst waiting a long time for them to arrive might not be a problem on a balmy summer's day, it could be quite dangerous if you are stuck outside during a thunderstorm.

If there are no nearby shops or cafes where you can take shelter and you must, therefore, simply wait beside your car for the locksmith, then it is important to avoid leaning against your car or allowing any part of your body to come into contact with it.

The reason for this is as follows; whilst it is often said that the inside a car is a safe place to ride out a thunderstorm, it can be very risky to touch the outside of a vehicle in these types of weather conditions. This is because metal can conduct electricity. As such, if one of your car's metal panels gets struck by a bolt of lightning whilst you are leaning against it, the electricity could travel from the metal into your body. This could leave you with severe injuries that could have long-term consequences for your health.

As such, it is best to stay a few feet away from your car whilst you wait for the arrival of the locksmith.

Inform the mobile locksmith of the thunderstorm if they are in a different area

If the locksmith happens to be quite far away from your location when you call them, it is possible that the thunderstorm may not have reached the area that they are in. If this is the case and they travel to you without realising how bad the weather conditions are in the place where your car is parked, they may not be able to unlock your car when they arrive.

The reason for this is as follows; as mentioned above, it can be very dangerous to touch the metal parts of a vehicle during a severe thunderstorm, due to the risk of electrocution. As such, if your locksmith does not have any means of protecting themselves during the unlocking process, it may be unsafe for them to carry out this task.

However, if you inform the mobile locksmith about the fact that a thunderstorm is occurring in the area where your vehicle is located when you first call them, they can take a pair of insulating gloves with them when they set off to your location. These gloves will prevent any electrical currents in your car from injuring the locksmith whilst they are fixing your lock.


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