Enforcing bicycle helmets is a good idea. It's about protecting your health and reducing the burden on the public health system.
I've fallen off a bike before and my helmet definitely saved me from a serious head injury. Would I have worn one if it was not compulsory and drilled into me as a child that's what you do when you ride one? Maybe not.
It saved me that day and I expect it saves many people in this country every day too.
> Would I have worn one if it was not compulsory and drilled into me as a child that's what you do when you ride one?
Yes. Because this is a false dichotomy. The latter does not depend upon the former. I can say that with certainty because I received the message growing up in a country with a cycling proficiency programme in schools instead of mandatory helmet laws.
Everyone should wear a helmet when riding, but criminalising noncompliance is an inefficient, reductive, expensive, heavy-handed, unnecessarily punitive, and ultimately counter-productive approach to achieving it.
I've fallen off a bike before and my helmet definitely saved me from a serious head injury. Would I have worn one if it was not compulsory and drilled into me as a child that's what you do when you ride one? Maybe not.
It saved me that day and I expect it saves many people in this country every day too.