Mandatory Bicycle Helmet Laws

[Spike89]

69. Do you have figures on that?

Is the cost to society worth the loss of freedom? What does it cost us when someone eats a cheeseburger? You can't legitimately attribute the cost of all bicycle accidents because many involve helmets, and of those that don't, there is virtually no way of knowing what percentage of them would have been saved by a bike helmet. Getting steamrolled by a semi truck (or even a SUV) pretty much makes your styrofoam helmet a frisbee. It might even be true that although helmets save lives, they cost society more. A dead no-helmet cyclist doesn't raise medical insurance much, but a surviving helmeted cyclist with severe neck injuries (or even a broken arm!) actually will collect from health insurance.
Furthermore, society is going to pay for my care at sometime (that is actually inevitable--being involved in a bike accident is not). So, assuming my doppleganger eats lots of cheeseburgers and develops diabetes and ends up hospitalized on the same day my "other" me gets in a helmet-free accident--how is that different?
How about I live a blameless life (no cheseburgers, wear my helmet, etc.) and despite all that, I die (old age deaths can be even more expensive medically than the bike wreck).
There was a study a few years back, quite controversial, that suggested cigarette smoking might actually be a cost SAVING behavior to society because smokers tended to die early in their retirement and their terminal illnesses (mostly lung cancer/heart attack) were quick and relatively cheap to treat compared to many other terminal illnesses their peers face.
Even though the insurance cost angle is weak, the true point is that there are tons of choices we make every day that have a bearing on our safety and not every one should be legislated.