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Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

stanfordreview.org

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Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#31

Post by lawwantsin17 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #11

The same is true in the Netherlands. Honestly, if they are biking around campus, they don’t need helmets. Helmets are needed on American roads because of poor biking infrastructure (not an issue on campus or in the Netherlands). The article is taking liberties using nationwide statistics to criticize local behavior.

People fall off bikes or flip over handle bars and land on their heads without the infra straw man everyday. The simpler conclusion is, if other people are doing it in my group and I don't want to think about it, I'll do it that way too. Wear your helmets to protect all that Stanford learnin.

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#32

Post by retrac »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #11

The same is true in the Netherlands. Honestly, if they are biking around campus, they don’t need helmets. Helmets are needed on American roads because of poor biking infrastructure (not an issue on campus or in the Netherlands). The article is taking liberties using nationwide statistics to criticize local behavior.

Are you sure? Just falling over on the bike while stationary (I admit I've managed this before) without being able to partially break your fall. could outright kill you if your head hits the pavement. (An uncontrolled fall from standing height to concrete such as by fainting can kill.) Even if you don't die, head impacts are really bad for the brain.

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#34

Post by detaro »

wyager wrote: post #30
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #11

The same is true in the Netherlands. Honestly, if they are biking around campus, they don’t need helmets. Helmets are needed on American roads because of poor biking infrastructure (not an issue on campus or in the Netherlands). The article is taking liberties using nationwide statistics to criticize local behavior.

If they’re biking around campus, they also don’t need masks.

But they probably need to wear it both where they are going and where they come from, so why not keep it on? Whereas they don't need a helmet for anything else in the day.

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#35

Post by Robelius »

retrac wrote: post #32
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #11

The same is true in the Netherlands. Honestly, if they are biking around campus, they don’t need helmets. Helmets are needed on American roads because of poor biking infrastructure (not an issue on campus or in the Netherlands). The article is taking liberties using nationwide statistics to criticize local behavior.

Are you sure? Just falling over on the bike while stationary (I admit I've managed this before) without being able to partially break your fall. could outright kill you if your head hits the pavement. (An uncontrolled fall from standing height to concrete such as by fainting can kill.) Even if you don't die, head impacts are really bad for the brain.

You could also hit your head after tripping while walking, but people don’t wear helmets on walks. I think the point was that there is a comfortable level of risk people are willing to take. If you remove cars from the equation, then the perceived risk is much lower while biking.

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#36

Post by varelse »

Well it's not like there's a shortage of Stanford students and graduates in the tech industry so this seems like a situation that will resolve itself organically as well as provide an additional implicit hiring filter for no additional charge.

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#37

Post by detaro »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #26
krastanov wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you ever assume that!? I also wear a mask when riding near traffic. Masks on bikers without helmets were a common sight in Paris in 2009 when I lived there. The mask has a measureable increase in immediate comfort, while the helmet is something that requires thinking ahead. Of course more people will remember a mask before they remember a helmet.

Is helmet wearing on bikes common in Europe anywhere outside of the UK?

German stats are afaik something like 20% (heavily skewed towards kids)

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#38

Post by krastanov »

lambdaba wrote: post #20
krastanov wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been wearing N95 when biking in the city for a year now. It is great, it is not difficult to breath at all (I am really incredulous at people making that claim), and it provides a measurable difference in the air I breath (a nasty but efficient way to measure that is looking at your snot if you bike while having a cold).

Thank you, I was repeating something I've heard, I do recall trying such a mask before covid in summer and finding it a bit uncomfortable, but maybe it varies. I'm quite interested in better breathing when riding my bike when air quality ocassionaly drops so I'll give it a try!

In the particularly hot months I have had to use small piece of cloth under the mask so I can remove it after my commute and not have a humid mask on my face, but that was the only issue I had. Even with the extra cloth I did not have trouble breathing (I specifically try to not exert too much effort when commuting on a bike because the sweat on my back would be a much worse source of discomfort than the mask)

Re: Stanford students are more likely to wear masks on bicycles than helmets

#39

Post by kkylin »

ajkjk wrote: post #33

I'm pretty sure it's just that they need their mask wherever they're going and it's easier to hop on and hop off with it than stow it away.

I bike with my mask on for that reason. As a bonus, it also helps with my allergies. (I do wear a helmet -- as much out of fear of getting hit by a bike on campus as by a car off.)
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