> In addition, as mentioned by another commenter, when the dutch traffic rules were written decades ago, it was found that helmet usage correlated to increased accident rates - people take more risks when they feel safer, and that in turn makes pedestrians less safe.

I'm probably a bit of an oddball in this respect, but I do not regard helmets as a means of preventing injury. Reducing the severity of an injury, sure, but even then they are of limited scope (i.e. they are only really useful if there is a direct impact to the head).

Helmets are not an excuse for taking risks. They are a means of reducing the impact of accidents.

Yeah, a helmet could literally save your life, but it won't stop you from scrapping or broken bones.

>A helmet requirement is wholly incompatible with the role of cycling in NL. You hop on a bike anywhere, regardless of what you're wearing.

I don't really understand this. I keep my helmet clipped to my handlebars, so if I have my bike, I have my helmet. Is it really so much of an inconvenience?

I'm sympathetic to the overall anti-helmet-requirement position, even seemingly trivial concerns like "it messes up my hair" sound legitimate to me. The convenience argument in particular just never made much sense to me though.

Living in a city, the idea of leaving anything of value on your bike, and expecting it to still be there when you get back is completely foreign to me. When I visited Amsterdam, I even had the seat stolen off my rental bike. Biking in the states means carrying a helmet inside with you everywhere you go, and it absolutely sucks.

When I visited Copenhagen a few years ago, most of the bikes I saw were either unlocked or locked to themselves to prevent riding off but not carrying away. It was rather shocking.

You see that on any area where there is low crime.

Hmm, no. Bike theft is extremely common in Japan, for example. There are very few places in the world where you can do that, no matter the crime leve.

uh, I normally lock my helmet by putting my u-lock through the double section of the strap. Sure someone could cut the strap but then the helmet would be useless. I haven't had any issues and live in a city with pretty high bicycle theft.

There are helmets you can lock with your bike.

Some helmets from bern have special holes that are compatible with u-locks and similar. (https://www.bernhelmets.com/collections/bike-helmets/product... u-lock vents) I haven't done an exhaustive search but I imagine others do similar.

My friend has one. It's the only one I've ever seen.

You can't really keep your helmet clipped to the handlebar at public parking places as they'll get vandalized or stolen.

If you’re using a bikeshare system, you may not have a helmet with you because you didn’t bring your bike with you.

That helmet's getting stolen as soon as you go into a store or cafe or the office. Having inside bike parking where it would be safe is a luxury that doesn't exist in most places.