When I worked for Prospect Electricity, one of the bits of safety info we were given during our orientation tour of a substation was:
if you are in a car with a live wire touching it, and you need to get out, Don't step out - Jump (and make sure both feet land together). Then, don't walk away - jump (like a kangaroo).
The reasoning is that the voltage spreads out from the source (wire) like a pool of water (or a dart board). If you step across an (imaginary) circular ripple, the electricity could flow up one leg, and down the other, doing damage along the way.
If you keep your feet together, it's like birds on a live wire - there's no voltage difference between them, so nothing happens.
Cheers,
Andrew
