<p>im not applying...but so many from my school are, which makes me want to ask, out of curiousity, how frequent are the bike accidents? heard that S got some new pedestrian sidewalks there...but i'd assume the bikes still zip by recklessly everywhere. </p>
<p>any S students care to answer?</p>
<p>I have no idea what the statistics are on bike accidents. I'm a senior and have never been in one, but there are freshmen here who have already been in 2. We do have new roundabouts, which seem to be helping.</p>
<p>Yeah, the roundabouts seem to help. At the very least, they force people to slow down at those intersections. And they make the traffic pattern more predictable so you only have potential crashes coming from one or two sides instead of four.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, bike accidents seem to me to be more common at the beginning of each school year...then everyone learns to navigate a little better.</p>
<p>When I visited, one thing that current students told me was that one big problem Stanford has is bike accidents. One of them had been bowled over many times (and she had been at Stanford for four years). And, supposedly, there's a "rush hour" on campus when hundreds (or thousands) of bikes are streaming across campus, or in certain areas, and you can't cross the street until they've all passed. So regulation on bikes needs to be tightened. UC Berkeley's cracking down on this same problem.</p>
<p>When I went to visit campus, I saw a bike crash. I think they just happen when there is a rush though, or people are in a hurry. Not that they're bad drivers or clumsy.</p>
<p>According to a professor (after noticing a student with dislocated shoulder and cut up face from a bike accident) there is on average 1 major bike accident a day (all 7 seven days of the week) on campus. I have no source to back this up and have no idea what "major" accident refers to just throught I'd share. I think ive seen 3 ambulences carting injured bikers away so far this year</p>
<p>As someone who regularly drives through the campus, I think the scariest part are the many bicyclists who think they are exempt from stopping at stop signs...I have had to slam on my brakes many times as a bike comes careening across the street without slowing, much less stopping. The other thing I don't understand is the lack of helmets...it's the law in CA that kids under 18 must wear a helmet, and then the same kids get to Stanford and are suddenly too cool to protect their brains with a bike helmet.
I think you will find Stanford a safe place to live and bike if you take safety precautions, like reasonable speed, obeying the traffic laws and wearing a helmet.</p>
<p>It should also be mentioned that many other universities have just the same issues as Stanford when it comes to the craziness of the bike scene.</p>
<p>True...UC Davis comes to mind as another campus where zooming bikes are an issue. I still don't think of the bike issue as a decision factor in which school to attend. I'd put in the category of things to be aware of as you arrive on campus next fall.</p>
<p>hmm. i heard its actually the scariest for pedestrians, not so much bikers, because bikers trespass on sidewalks. poor pedestrians lol.
anyway not a prob here in te south.</p>
<p>lol middday traffic through the quad is a nightmare. Accidents are rare but you don't go very fast...And when you do, you tend to run into people -.-...</p>