I am an avid bicyclist. While growing up we never had helmets, nobody I knew ever got killed or injured by not wearing one, but many did, I just never was aware. Last summer my 13 year old daughter took off on her bike to go to the park. Made it 1/2 of a block from home, fell on some sand. When she got up she found lots of bleeding from road rash and rushed home. I calmed her down and took off her helmet, I then noticed the whole side of it cracked and smashed, really smashed. She landed mostly on her head. It saved her life. She was going about 5 miles an hour when this happened, just getting rolling out of the driveway. Damn right I wear a helmet. But it is MY choice.