Originally Posted by
mconlonx
There are many more than two generalized things to consider when deciding to wear a helmet or not. And besides:
1. Crashing your bike is not a regular thing and is rare.
2 When crashing your bike, chances of hitting your head are low. ...
Scrapes, cuts, contusions are fairly common head injuries which are pretty well protected by a helmet. Whether protection against minor injuries is worth it to a given rider on a given day is another story.
Not to forget the possibility of skull fractures and inter-cranial hemorage, for which the helmets provide some significant protection. Anticipating ILTB's next comment, although this data is from pediatric patients:
Pediatric bicycle injury prevention and the effect of helmet use: the West Virginia experience.
"Skull fractures occurred in 3.2% of the helmeted and 17.4% of the un-helmeted (p = 0.0408) riders. The rate of intra-cranial hemorrhage was 0% in helmeted riders and 17.4% in un-helmeted riders"
To be sure, this says nothing of the likelihood of an injury to begin with but does suggest that these kinds of injuries are mitigated.