My bicycle doesn't have nearly as many air bags as a typical car.

You're right, though. Cars are fundamentally dangerous. High risk of violent injury or death, and, even in the best case, they subtly harm your health and longevity by encouraging a sedentary lifestyle. Damned expensive, too. Perhaps we should all just move to Rotterdam so we wouldn't have to deal with them so much.

https://hovding.com/ - bicycle airbag.

> My bicycle doesn't have nearly as many air bags as a typical car.

yet statistically per-passenger-mile you're more likely to get a head injury while in a car than on a bike.

It's really not an unreasonable point. As a society, we make rules all the time about safety )that may or may not be rooted in actual statistics). I certainly did lots of things as a kid that would be seen by at least many people I know as reckless today in terms of safety equipment.

An argument can be made that you should wear a helmet of some sort in many circumstances where it's not required (or expected) today. Look at downhill skiing. It's still far from universal but no one (besides racers) wore a helmet until 20 years ago or so. I still don't wear one.

The same could be said for pedestrians (slipping on ice, getting hit by a car).

On a motorcycle, yes. Otherwise, I'm surrounded by a cage of metal.