Originally Posted by
mconlonx
Are there studies confirming this, or just a bunch of anecdotes...?
Only one study I'm aware of - there may be others. Here's the report of it in
Scientific American. The average decrease in distance between car and helmeted cyclist is quite small, but there was a 23% increase in the number of vehicles that passed within less than one meter of the helmeted, as opposed to unhelmeted, cyclist. It's only one study, and therefore far from conclusive, but it's mighty interesting, don't you think?