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

The same is true in the Netherlands.<p>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.

I&#x27;m pretty sure it&#x27;s just that they need their mask wherever they&#x27;re going and it&#x27;s easier to hop on and hop off with it than stow it away.

For those who say &quot;you don&#x27;t need a helmet on campus,&quot; there&#x27;s a simple <i>science-based</i> way to test your theory:<p>Look at the stats on brain injuries for bicycle accidents on campus. [1] has anecdotes, but no stats, unfortunately.<p>You have other bikes to collide with, you have people crossing the path, and yes, there are cars on campus. I&#x27;ve driven there.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;transportation.stanford.edu&#x2F;bicycle&#x2F;learn-about-bike-safety&#x2F;love-your-brain" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;transportation.stanford.edu&#x2F;bicycle&#x2F;learn-about-bike...</a>

It’s interesting that the OP didn’t also consider that people wear masks on bikes to block out truck and car fumes and other particles that tend to fly in your face. I rarely wear a helmet when biking, but there’s a noticeable benefit when I’m biking around traffic and don’t have to breath in car exhaust because I’m wearing a mask.

Nobody here wears a bicycle helmet unless he or she is a recreational rider who rides at high speeds. Helmets can help against high speed crash. Most commuters ride at low speeds. Helmets are inconvenient and pressure to increase helmet usage has been suspected to make cycling less safe in the aggregate because less people will cycle and other road users thus won&#x27;t be taking them into account. If I&#x27;m being cynical it&#x27;s possibly why people keep pushing for it in the first place.

This has been the best proof that intelligence and common sense don&#x27;t necessarily go together.<p>Not to single out Stanford students, there is no common sense to be found anywhere lately.

This is presented as hypocritical, and is taken that way by some of the comments, but masks and helmets are very different, with different situational contexts where their perceived protection varies differently, and different kinds of inconveniences. Being irresponsible about one but not the other <i>may</i> be hypocritical, but that&#x27;s being taken as a <i>must</i> in order to score political points.

The choice isn’t between perfect rationality and hypocrisy, it’s between useful norms and harmful ones. People of every intelligence level defer some decision making to the community and culture, it’s how the species moves forward without having to constantly rethink and re-explain.<p>Right now it’s likely better to have people wearing masks too often than the other way around.

I haven&#x27;t done this level of research, but in Austin I have observed motorcyclists with mask and no helmet, which is even crazier.

Masks protect others, not just the wearer, perhaps even with an emphasis on the others. That might create a stronger social pressure for wearing a mask, and avoidance of stigma might compel people to wear one even in situations where it doesn&#x27;t actually do much.<p>There may be lots of other factors in play considering that these kinds of choices are largely social, so this might not actually be the reason the students make those choices, but that&#x27;s a fairly obvious difference.

Optics and appearances affect how others feel.<p>This could be a sentence summarising the 20s

Well it&#x27;s not like there&#x27;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.

The author makes the mistake of associating cycling with head injuries. In fact, for young people the risk of head injury on a bike is significantly lower than the risk of contracting Covid on campus.

Helmets mess up your hair.

They don&#x27;t believe in the science of helmet wearing! &#x2F;s

We all like to think that Stanford students may not be as bright as they&#x27;re purported to be (I have fun thinking this too!) but here&#x27;s my theory:<p>- Some people who normally wear helmets might not wear one when going slowly from building to building within a campus where there are few&#x2F;no cars or other dangers around.<p>- These people might have had to wear a mask at the location they&#x27;re coming from (e.g., a lecture hall) and the location they&#x27;re going to.<p>- So...it may just be easiest to hop on your bike, ride to another building close by, and leave your mask on.