"A helmet is literally a pain in the neck. Its extra weight tires the neck muscles, and it is a nuisance to fiddle with. ... No matter how skilled a rider your are, some idiot in a car can come zooming out of a driveway and zap you. ....Sierra Club Books, 1979"

[barstool philosophizing redacted] Not one stat, comparison, or study referred to. Zip. Zap.

Helmet zealots need to review the facts.

Study after study shows that the helmet is going to do you little good in a collision with a car and you are about as likely to have that collision biking as walking.

I've previously cited you to Dr. Ward's presentation. He shows the trend in cycling fatalities parallels that of pedestrians from 1981 thru 2005.

In Great Britain the deaths per billion km traveled from 1995 to 2004: 38 cycling deaths, 49 pedestrian deaths.

With motorcycling, where wearing a helmet (and THEY use 'real' helmets) is a good idea, there are 8.8 deaths per million hours ridden. With Bicycling it's .26, about the same as water skiing; and with cars, .47, nearly twice the death rate.

You really want to make a difference? Crusade to get people to wear helmets when they drive motor vehicles.