Stanford freshmen to receive free bike helmets

bike helmet
Incoming Stanford freshmen will receive free bike helmets, thanks to the generosity of two Stanford parents.

Stanford freshmen will receive free bicycle helmets when they arrive on campus in the fall of 2016, thanks to a gift from two Stanford parents committed to increasing the safety of bike riding on campus.

Russell Siegelman, a Stanford parent who also lectures in the Graduate School of Business, is an avid cyclist who has suffered brain trauma and experienced a catastrophic bike accident. As a result, he and his wife, Beth, have become advocates for wearing bike helmets. They decided to give away helmets to an estimated 1,800 new students to create change in the bicycle culture on campus by making wearing helmets the norm.

In talks with his son, students and others, Siegelman learned that young adults often forgo wearing helmets because, among other reasons, they worry that doing so is “uncool.” At Stanford, only an estimated 20 percent of undergraduate students report wearing helmets when pedaling to and from classes and events.

Read the entire story in Stanford Report.