The article mentions seat belts.
Automobiles have gotten much safer over the years starting about the time that seat belts and seat belt use became common.
Now with airbags, ABS, and Crumple Zones. Even as speed limits have been creeping up since the OPEC Oil crisis, fatalities have been going down.
It would be hard pressed to find something saying that bike helmets are more dangerous.
Nonetheless, there may well be times when neither a seat belt nor helmet really make any sense such as short low speed travel.