?? Where did mandatory law come into it? You didn't mention it your earlier post. I'm also not convinced by your analogy - lots of people refuse to obey mandatory helmet laws, and they ARE riding bikes. In fact, how would you know they'd refused to ride a bicycle: they were wearing clips vélo jaunes in protest??

By the way, I rode 1,8 km in Bangkok to the start of the airport cycle track at dusk. I would never advise this, but to go back meant going the same way as rush hour traffic, so I judged it safer to continue, and walked a lot of the way. At the track they refused me entry as I'had no helmet, but lent me one, as they also did the the access device, as I had no money either, and I was off. Lots of people on the track, visitors, locals, all kinds of bikes. I have to say the helmet and the access device gave me a great sense of reassurance, as did the friendly nature of all those organisers and participants. One example, but thoughts of safety in foreign countries with unknown attitudes of other road users can sometimes concern the innocent tourist.