The Brits love their National Health Service. But don't think they are nanny-staters run rampant. They're actually more opposed to mandatory bicycle helmet laws than we Yanks. When gold medalist and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins reacted to the death of a cyclist outside the Olympic Park with a call for helmet laws, his fellow Brits denounced him:
Cyclists and non-cyclists; conservatives and liberals — they all united in arguing that wearing a cycling helmet should be a matter of choice, or else the popularity of cycling might decline. Darren Johnson a London Assembly member from the Green Party, said the issue of mandatory helmet laws missed the point. "We need to focus on the solutions to the problem of left-turning lorries," he said.
David Cameron, the Conservative Prime Minister who can be seen here, here, and here cycling without a helmet, called compulsory laws a "difficult issue," though he hasn't backed them in the past.
The leading liberal newspaper in London, The Guardian, opined against mandatory helmet laws and conducted an online poll in which 79 percent of respondents said bike helmets should not be mandatory. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Times of London also opined against helmet laws, taking care to point out that the pro-bicycling campaign they champion does not call for mandatory laws [Mike Pesca, "Britain's Wiggins Starts a Row by Arguing for Bike Helmets," NPR: The Torch, 2012.08.05].
We keep the brain box on our Divine Miss K, but I haven't worn a helmet regularly since breaking in my first recumbent bicycle 12 years ago. I get occasional dirty looks from some American cycling enthusiasts. But shouldn't we all just be happy to see more people enjoying their two-wheeled freedom?
You know, I put my bicycle helmet on and fasten my seatbelt without even thinking about it anymore. It's become a natural reflex for me to do these things for my own safety. I guess to each their own...
I'm not about mandating anything, but if you ride long enough, strange things happen. As many miles as I put in, I've still bounced off the pavement enough times to know I'll never go without. However, as G-Man above said...to each their own.
That one time when I slid across the apex of a tight turn at speed, lying hard down on my left side as my head literally bounced across the road, watching gravel and road dust kick up from the surface...yup...glad I had a good helmet on...now the deep scratches on my new carbon pedals, that really ticked me off, still does. (but my face is still pretty if I do say so myself)
A rode bicycles from 4th grade on through college without a helmet. Never even thought about such an idea. Then when wife and I were in Rochester, NY, a Bell and Howell executive was riding with his family and his bicycle slid on wet leaves. He hit his head on the curb (sharp granite in some parts of Rochester) and died. That was actually the first time I had ever even heard of bicycle helmets. The idea then seemed to make a lot of sense anyway.
Helmet laws have stopped a lot of people cycling and have done nothing for head injury rates, see Robinson DL. No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets. BMJ. 2006 March 25; 332(7543): 722–725. doi: 10.1136/bmj.332.7543.722-a. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=16565131 (Robinson's work uses the best scientific methods, all available control groups and so on.) I don't wear a helmet and neither do my children.
The link from Richard K. is not quite as conclusive as he suggests.
"Summary points
Case-control studies suggest cyclists who choose to wear helmets generally have fewer head injuries than non-wearers
Before and after data show enforced helmet laws discourage cycling but produce no obvious response in percentage of head injuries
This contradiction may be due to risk compensation, incorrect helmet wearing, reduced safety in numbers, or incorrect adjustment for confounders in case-control studies
Governments should focus on factors such as speeding, drink-driving, failure to obey road rules, poor road design, and cycling without lights at night"
Controlling all variables over time is apparently rather difficult.