Originally Posted by
Mithrandir
... [the helmet] did not annoy me at all this time. I have not yet been in a crash, but I still think it saved my life. Roughly a month ago, cycling down a country road, a large truck flew by me and ran over a rock, which its wheels picked up and flung directly at me. Since I had my head down it hit my helmet squarely on the top. I shudder to think what would have happened to my head without the helmet...
a lot of people who have a preconception, look for evidence (however shaky) that validates their preconception.
There's no possible way for you to know what exactly what would have happened had you not worn a helmet during this incident, but if we look at what has happened when cyclists have died, we could form a reasonable guess to the likelyhood of what would have happenned.
It's like when someone who has fallen claims their life was saved by a helmet. Very, very, few cyclists die from a simple fall. There's no way to be 100% certain the fall wouldn't have resulted in death, but it's very unlikely, yet the claim that it had is fully believed by the convinced.
This has also happened in my province that instituted an all ages helmet law. Since the law passed, it's very common for believers to claim their helmet saved their life, but the actual result was that despite an instant doubling of helmet use overnight, and a 30% drop in cycling, deaths increased.