>>And actually I feel less safe with a bike helmet. The most important thing for me, as a bicycle rider on the street, is to know what's around me, where are the other vehicles. I tried wearing a helmet a few times, and it has completely screwed up my 3d hearing. I was looking behind my back just far too often, because I couldn't understand where is each sound coming from. And my field of vision was also somewhat smaller, but not by much.
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>Some motorcyclists say that, too. (Ones who don't want to wear a helmet). I remember one guy saying if he gets in an accident going at any speed and hits his head, a helmet isn't going to save him, it's just going to collect his brains in one place. He said his focus was on avoiding an accident in the first place.

I assume the helmets may help in a category of lesser incidents, at lower speeds, where hitting a curb or a pole with one's head may injure it seriously... but then there's this psychological thing: aside from driving through an auditory illusion, they ride through a safety illusion and take more risks. It's disputable how does this move the odds - reckless with helmet vs careful without.

I don't really remember people having accidents with their bicycles back home, where helmets for bicyclists are unheard of, and where pretty much everyone rides sometimes, and maybe one third of the people do regularly - falling off, or with the bike happens to kids, nonagenarians and drunks. Being hit by a vehicle while on a bike is just as frequent as while on foot - crossing a road at the wrong time/place, doing something stupid, or being hit by an irresponsible idiot - in any of that category of cases I guess again the pros and cons for the helmet would even out. I.e. helmet doesn't make a stupid head any safer, but may make it feel so and indulge in risk. OTOH, as much as it may save your head in smaller accidents, it may cause them by mishearing. So IMO jury's still out.