h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am brain damaged! seriously, aquired brain injuries from a motorcycle smash in 1996.
I have more reason than most to wear a helmt as, if I hadn't worn one, I would have had no head left at all!
The problem is the compulsory use of helmets.
If I wear one, the pressures, even a hat does this, make my permanent headache a hell of a lot worse. If I am knocked off by a car then the insurance company are likely to try the "You should have been protecting yourself" line.
What do I do?

You join the CTC. They have recently funded a number of high profile cases where insurance companies tried to reduce damages because cyclists weren't wearing polystyrene hats, and have won in each case. They have a Cyclists' Defence Fund which exists for this purpose.

I don't wear a helmet either as I find them uncomfortable. It strikes me as fairly outrageous for insurance companies to try and reduce damages because of this - It's not a legal obligation, and that's the end of it. It is quite possible that wearing a helmet in a car, on a bus or as a pedestrian would also help in the case of being in an accident, but they wouldn't reduce someone's pay out for not wearing a helmet in a bus, would they?

Sprout

It's not just that it's not a legal requirement, there is actually no credible evidence that helmets make a significant difference to serious injuries, other than in children (who tend to play on bicycles so have different kinds of accident).

For all the "my helmet saved my life" anecdotes, nobody actually knows how serious an injury would have been without a lid. I know people who have gone over the bars lidless at speed, landed head-first, and walked away with minor cuts and bruises. I know one seventy-year-old who survived such an incident - no helmet.

I wear a helmet partly because my children like me to (and I demand that they do, because children are the one group for whom helmets are proven to be effective) and partly because I prefer it to road rash on the head, which I have had more than once.