In cycling friendly cities, how do near-sighted cyclists who need glasses manage to bike to work or school in the rain? In cycling friendly cities, how do near-sighted cyclists who need glasses manage to bike to work or school in the rain?

When I say cycling friendly cities, I'm referring to cities such as Utrecht, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen which have plenty of bike lanes for people of all ages and abilities. Plenty of cyclists in Amsterdam cycle in the rain. Even in Vancouver, bike traffic can greatly decrease.

When glasses get wet, it can be very hard to see which makes it dangerous to cycle. It can also fog. Unlike windshields of cars, glasses almost never have wipers and defoggers unless they're novelty products or custom modifications.

Depending on the severity of the myopia, not wearing glasses can make it too hard to see which is also dangerous. I had pupil dilator eye drops and remembered that it was hard to see the white lane markings. 

Is it possible that in cycling friendly cities:


Myopia rates are low
Contact lenses are used
Laser eye surgeries are used
Fairings are used
Having poor vision isn't that dangerous given the high quality cycling infrastructure
Glasses tend to have more advanced coatings so they're more rain friendly
I'm very short-sighted and couldn't cycle at all without my glasses on. I don't find any particular problem cycling in the rain, and I don't see how the cycling-friendliness or otherwise of the city would make any difference to that.

Yes, rain on my glasses degrades my vision a bit, but I've never found it problematic. Wearing a cap helps a bit. People say it keeps rain off your glasses but it doesn't; what it actually does is shade your glasses so that the light of the sky during the day or street lights at night doesn't bounce around so much in the raindrops, causing a bunch of glare.

Considering your possibilities:


  
  Myopia rates are low
  


Why would they be? Especially given that people move freely between cities. Doubly so in the UK, where the main cycling cities include Oxford and Cambridge, which have huge transient populations of students.


  
  Contact lenses are used
  Laser eye surgeries are used
  


In cities where lots of people cycle, they're doing it purely for transport and they tend not to do anything special for cycling (e.g., they cycle in whatever clothes they want to wear at their destination). Such people will wear contacts if they want to wear contacts, and have laser eye surgery if they want to have laser eye surgery but it seems unlikely that cycling will be a significant issue in that.


  
  Fairings are used
  


Not sure what you mean.


  
  Having poor vision isn't that dangerous given the high quality cycling infrastructure
  


There are plenty of people whose vision is bad enough that they can't cycle without corrective lenses, regardless of how good the infrastructure is. For example, I'm sitting about 5m from a row of parked bicycles visible through my office window. If I look over the top of my glasses, I literally can't identify what those blobs are. Even knowing that really they're bikes doesn't help me.


  
  Glasses tend to have more advanced coatings so they're more rain friendly
  


I've bought glasses in cities where lots of people cycle and cities where few people do; there was no difference.