There's also been shown to be an inverse correlation between wearing a helmet and safety. It seems that motorists correlate "having a helmet on" with being safe, and so are more aggressive around those who are wearing.
Probably referring to the study in the uk to examine how overtaking distances of passing vehicles is affected by the attire of the cyclist [1].
There's suggestions that making helmets compulsory reduces cyclists, which in turn makes cycling unsafer.
I cycle in London every day (for the past 10 years) and personally don't wear a helmet (though plenty of my friends do). I tried, but found for me it was a mild occasional obstruction to my peripheral vision - something I value highly on the road.
Interesting, but not really definitive. Seems like there's a big factor related to the size of the bike lane as well. There could also be a bias towards male and female cyclists, since this experiment was conducted using a wig to make the rider look female with no helmet on. Would still like to see more.
My current ride gives me a pretty huge bike lane, and so far I've felt better with a helmet on than without.
