Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets

IMO, default answer is yes.

If you have lots of miles and a fair amount of bike handling skills under your belt and a well maintained bike I think you can take your choice of whether a helmet's required on a ride-to-ride basis. Some rides have a very low head impact probability, say on par with jogging, so helmet might be overkill for some riders. If you want to err on the side of caution, get the helmet on before you even think of swinging a leg over.

If your local, state or provincial government tries to pass some stupid law, go fight it if you have the time!

If you're taking a known noob out for a ride suggest a helmet. If you see a stranger on the road sans helmet don't admonish or even scowl, try waving instead!

Originally Posted by Brian Ratliff

I dunno. Should you? I think the point is: we all have to take our risk assessment and make our own decisions.