Originally Posted by
longbeachgary
Sounds ridiculous that someone won't get on a bicycle because they saw someone else on a bicycle wearing a helmet. Maybe, just maybe it's an excuse for not getting on a bicycle and doing some exercise. We don't see people walking/running wearing helmets yet more people are not out walking/running.
Really the helmet excuse thing is just part of a whole package of excuses that some folks lean on to avoid any physical activity involving a bike...
The helmet excuse is often coupled with the lycra excuse, the sweat excuse, the mussed up hair excuse and about a dozen other excuses... that all sum up to "I just want to sit on my rolling couch in my air-conditioned cage and ignore the rest of the world... leave me alone..."
But in all honesty, cycling accidents are indeed rare... but if you are "doing battle" in a CoCr (I like that term...) you might want to consider using a helmet.
My personal take is that while I am riding in rush hour traffic with distracted motorists, I might be bumped, and a helmet can save me some headaches... However, on paths and MUPs and even on slow residential streets... I am not likely to encounter a situation that is going to bump me off my bike, so I tend to ride helmetless. It is very situational for me... and frankly, I don't think "forcing" people to wear helmets does any thing positive for cycling.
Now to take this one step further... when off road, I have never managed to not fall at least once... so I always wear a helmet off road.
But bottom line... it should be up to the individual cyclist, who in evaluating their own riding style and location, can best determine what they need to do.