Originally Posted by pacificaslim

Read this thread again. Look at the studies of helmet laws vs. cycling participation. Read the article I linked to about Copenhagen. This is not "my argument." It's not about my opinion vs. your opinion since we shouldn't be talking about ourselves or anecdotal evidence here when we have studies on the books that look at the big picture.

BTW, I'm not saying that bike helmet ads tell people they shouldn't bike. It's more subtle than that of course. Bike helmet ads and laws tell give people the impression that cycling is dangerous. After all, if it weren't dangerous, we wouldn't need a helmet! So even though statistics show that cycling is not dangerous and falls to the head are very, very, very, very rare, people start to think it is dangerous because helmets are associated with it. Then they are afraid to let their kids ride, and the next generation has lower ridership than the previous. Bummer.