Helmet Or No?

E.D. Kain revisits the bicyclist's dilemma:

Personally, I’m a helmet guy.  However ineffective helmets may be, I still appreciate the contents of my skull enough to do whatever I can to protect them, including donning the rather clumsy foam and plastic encasement even at the risk of forsaking the “sublime.”   Then, too, I’m a parent and one who doesn’t subscribe to the “do as I say, not as I do” approach to parenting.  When it all comes down, I’d prefer to see my daughter wear a helmet when she’s of a biking age.

I just can't do it. I like the rush of wind in my hair ... oh never mind. They can be pretty effective, mind you:

Correctly worn, bike helmets are about 70 percent effective in preventing damage on impact. Mary Pat McKay, director of the Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine, says that with those odds, she doesn’t understand why so many people continue to ride without a helmet. “If I had a magic pill to prevent 70 percent of heart attacks among people with heart disease, they’d want me to put it in the water.”