I <i>categorically</i> deny that I am spreading FUD. You are very unlikely to die in a bike accident. However, if you do, you are vastly more likely to not be wearing a helmet. Even if you have negative anecdata (absence of observed collisions&#x2F;falls) that doesn&#x27;t mean it doesn&#x27;t happen: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dutchnews.nl&#x2F;news&#x2F;archives&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;fewer_road_deaths_but_no_chang&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dutchnews.nl&#x2F;news&#x2F;archives&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;fewer_road_dea...</a><p>As far as minor falls leading to death... hopefully an EMT&#x2F;medical professional can jump in or someone else can offer statistics. I wish I had time to find links&#x2F;data to show you how sadly and tragically incorrect that is (cycling or not).<p>I will repeat: I favor bike lanes and do not strongly favor helmet laws (even though I strongly favor their use).<p>edit: also, if anyone can find a way to quantify how many injuries helmets have prevented, it would be awesome. Everything I found involved autopsies&#x2F;hospital reports&#x2F;police reports... nothing where someone crashed and the helmet prevented further injury. Also hard to tell non-fatal effects from reported data (where a fall would have been a concussion otherwise, but was not because of a helment)