Yeah, I think so, and I'm not getting into that here, other than to say that I always wear my helmet. Road, woods, rail trail, run around the corner to the store. It doesn't take much of a fall to wreck your head, and as far as not wearing it on a leirsurely ride, I think it's possible the brain bucket will do you more good in just such a situation. You get hit by a car at 35 mph, you clearly want a helmet, but it might be inadequate to save you, and other internal injuries might do you in. You fall off your bike at 13 mpg and bang it against a root or a curbstone, and that helmet could be the difference between bruised ribs and road rash and being a vegetable. Doesn't matter to me what the law says: I'm wearing my helmet.