You should not be seeing the foam helmets for bicycles any longer. They were banned years ago. Bicycle helmets now have to have a shell over the styrene foam to prevent the foam from sticking when it hits the pavement. There was a significant increase in neck injuries after the wave of mandatory bicycle helmet laws with pre-teens taking the majority of injuries. The shell allows the helmet to slide while the foam disperses the force. A bike helmet shell does not have to handle the same type of penetrating force or handle a 100’ slide on concrete, and bicycle helmets have the same limits, one hit and the styrene is compressed, every subsequent hit to the same area will transfer greater force through the denser (compressed) foam.
I wear a helmet, not because they are comfortable or because I was told to by the State, but for the same reason I left the guards on my table saw, use a clamp at the drill press or have locks on my doors, stuff happens, some we can control some we cannot, but anything that gets me a few extra percentage points of survivability without destroying the experience is generally a good thing as long as it is my choice.
Wearing a helmet should always be a personal choice, and the Feds ought to have no place in the discussion, but hypothetically: if you were forced to wear one would you give up riding or ride less?
