Why am I seeing Asian women wearing surgical masks while driving in their cars in Los Angeles?

They wear them when they have a cold and don`t want to give it to you. They wear them when they don`t want to catch your cold. My Japanese wife practically lives in one in spring because she has hay fever.

If they`re wearing them all day it`s simply easier to leave it on in the car. People who are wearing hats outside don`t often take them off in the car either.

Well, in japan you see people wearing masks a lot. I've heard it's for 2 reasons:

1.) To prevent getting sick, at all. (Even colds, flus, etc.)

2.) Certain teenager's wear them and add things to the masks, then wear them as a fashion accessory.

Again, that's just what I've heard.

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae142/arielbeau... <--- What I meant about the 2nd one.

Edit - I've heard smog be mentioned before too. So, those other answers are correct.

They might be sick and in a highly populated area, viruses can spread fast. I think they are just being considerate and trying to keep their germs from spreading. Having the mask on, even in the car, will help keep their hands and the common surfaces in the car clean. That or the people they are going to be around are sick and they just put their masks on ahead of time.

I'm not Asian, but I used to ride a bicycle to school in Pittsburgh, which is up there with LA when it comes to smog and pollution. I would come home with soot on my face, and I couldn't imagine what was getting into my lungs when I was huffing it up steep hills during rush hour. So, I started wearing a mask during heavy traffic. People looked at me like I was sick, but it was worth possibly saving my lungs.

Either they have a cold, or they're trying to avoid air pollution. It's definitely a cultural thing, that's kinda common in Asia.

They say they wear it so they will not catch or spread germs, but that will not stop airborne germs because if air can get through it then so can microscopic germs.

I don't know too much about asian culture but I think they wear it when they are sick or to prevent from being sick.

The think the air is bad or dirty, which is crazy because the smog and air problems in China are like a billion times worse than Los Angeles.

Granted, I can't breathe in all the way when I go to LA either, but still, lol.

They might have immigrated from large Asian cities that have extremely deadly smog. (beijing, bangkok, tokyo)

It's actually pretty hard to believe that the US is one of the cleanest countries.

I hate those women, my mom and I went to the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles and every woman working behind the counter had one. I am racially Asian myself, though those women are actually from Asian countries and they are snobs who ought to be punched in the face.

It's basically they're way of implying they're cleaner than you and don't want to get American diseases, even though China is a much dirtier country.