gilesjuk wrote:At least I feel I have done all I can do, if someone else is negligent and knocks me off then it's not my fault.
But it would be if you weren't wearing a helmet?
I spent most of my working life advising on occupational h&s. IMHO most people are 'risk illiterate' over reacting to small risks but ignoring much greater risks. The general public seems to assume helmets must be beneficial in all circumstances whereas the evidence suggests they are beneficial in limited circumstances (which was indeed recognised by the judge in the recent case cited above).
I usually wear a helmet now partly for the reasons put forward by Thirdcrank but mainly because I think that the likelyhood of me having an incident exposing my head to the type of damage for which the helmet is most effective (ie contact with the ground at around 20 kph) is such that it is prudent! A few years ago I had a fairly serious cycling accident. The first question everyone asked was 'were you wearing a helmet'; I was but then it wasn't my head that struck the tree stump - it was my shoulder. (Had it been my head I think the helmet would have been immaterial as I was going much faster than it could have coped with and anyway my neck would probably have been broken). However, having considered the whole accident carefully I think that if I had not been wearing a helmet I would probably not have been riding so fast and I would probably have stayed on the road. I think risk compensation does have a significant effect even when you can see that it makes no sense to behave in such a way when considering it rationally (in my case after the event).
gilesjuk wrote:I wasn't talking about cycling anyway, there are many preventable injuries which merely require you to wear protection. gloves, eye protection etc..
The primary aim should be to prevent accidents not ameliorate the affects. PPE - and here I'm thinking of occupational h&s but I think there are lessons in this context - can lead to employers not properly managing h&s, instead putting responsibility on employees to reduce the effect of the injury.