1. You're right. People don't like being told what to do. Go talk to Russians, Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, Lithuanians, etc. It took them over 70 years to get rid of people who told them what to do.

2. There's a simple concept called "risk assessment". You are at risk of a lot of pain all of your life. Risk should be assessed objectively to determine if abnormal measures (like wearing of protective headgear) is warranted. I would guess you have never objectively measured your risk in performing tasks or activities that we perform daily in our lives. Perhaps you should, since cycling is lower risk than the sum of all lifetime risks. Source: http://www.vehicularcyclist.com/comparat.html

Your so-called common sense is trumped by the facts.

Nicoleacola, you cite an injury to a car user, so I assume you wear a helmet when taking a trip by car. Car occupants suffer head trauma in far greater numbers than cyclists. Our heads are exposed to risk virtually anytime so should we wear helmets for all moving activities?

There is much evidence to show helmet laws have been a failure where they've been introduced, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. See sites of the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation at http://www.cyclehelmets.org and the Vehicular Cyclist at http://www.vehicularcyclist.com