Originally Posted by
Tiglath
"My experience in nearly 50 years of riding in traffic has never given me reason to want to wear a helmet."
This poster thinks that his lucky experience is the best one to go by when deciding this question.
He thinks that what happens to other less lucky people, often through no fault of their own, is irrelevant when surmising the odds.
Great plan. As I said, his head, his way.
I heard once that learning from the experience and mistakes of others saves a lot of time and grief.
I feel bad for anyone who truly believes that the only thing standing between a cyclist and bloody death is good luck. It must be quite frightening to feel so near to death during even the most routine of activities.
As for "surmising the odds", it's important to realize that the death rate for cyclists before helmets existed was extremely low. Adding a helmet most likely adds a small additional degree of safety to what can already be a very safe activity, and few if any of us have a problem with other people who choose to add that extra safety. But the argument that cycling is necessarily a life-threatening activity (and that a bicycle helmet essentially removes that threat to life) is just ignorant.