Talk:Port Harcourt bus electrocution

This article was nominated for deletion on 10 December 2023. The result of the discussion was keep.

A news item involving Port Harcourt bus electrocution was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 15 February 2010.

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Why did anyone die?

I don't understand how this could have happened. I've seen it claimed many times that even a lightning bolt should not harm occupants of a vehicle, because the metal skin conducts the charge and keeps it away from the occupants. (for example, charge stays on the outside of a conductor, and current should avoid humans due to the resistance) There are many stories and even video of cars struck by lightning without the inhabitants being harmed. Was the bus open to the air, or its exterior not made of metal? Wnt (talk) 06:24, 15 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My thoughts exactly -- vehicles form a protective Faraday cage. -72.174.164.240 (talk) 06:32, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's not the same sort of thing as a lightning strike. Lightning is an electrical arc through the air. It's instantaneous and hits the most attractive (least resistive) spot. This incident, on the other hand, is about a high voltage wire carrying continuous current making physical contact and electrifying the buses. Sustained high voltage current is much more hazardous. Oh, and btw, I wouldn't say that a lightning strike _can't_ hurt the occupants of a car. 98.248.74.209 (talk) 02:30, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Pure speculation here but it is likely that the passengers tried to escape the vans when the power line fell on them. This is when they would create a path through themselves from the van to the ground. It would be tough not to do so when the van is sparking and filling with smoke. You would have to make a flying leap to avoid touching the van and the ground at the same time. These people wouldn't know to do that, much less remember to do it in a panic. Rsduhamel (talk) 18:37, 18 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"electrocution" in title

electrocution originally refers to capital punishment by electric chair. While I realize that in vernacular usage, it can also refer to accidential deaths caused by electric shock, I find it rather tasteless to use it in the title of an encylopedic article. We should try to maintain some sort of standard also in choice of vocabulary. --dab (𒁳) 17:25, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

PS, I note that the problem recurs in a category name. But also note how this article is the only one in this category which actually has "electrocution" in its title. --dab (𒁳) 17:26, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Re your first point. I direct you to the first sentence of the lede in the article which you mentioned, where it states "Electrocution is the stopping of life (determined by a stopped heart) by any type of electric shock". Its use is thus perfectly valid in the context of the title of this article.

Re your second point - AFAIK there is no policy or guideline which says that a word from an article's title may not occur in the tittle of any categories in which it appears; indeed the practice is common. For example, Oxford railway station is in both Category:Buildings and structures in Oxford and in Category:Railway stations opened in 1852 (amongst others). --Redrose64 (talk) 17:37, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Someone's grammar is bad. This is an electrocution? Right? One disagrees.

Assuming it is an electrocution, what is the adjective? Nigeria is a noun, not an adjective. Nigerian is the adjective.

Also were there more than one electrocutions in 2010 on a bus? If not, the year is not allowed. Judith Merrick (talk) 20:27, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think that your last reason is incorrect in relation to your page move. The article title now being "Nigerian bus electrocution" suggests that there has only ever been one electrocution in Nigeria which involved a bus. This might well be true; so your reason should be "Also were there more than one electrocutions in ~~2010~~Nigeria on a bus? If not, the year is not allowed." --Redrose64 (talk) 21:29, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]