The headline should read "Forget bike helmet laws, we need more bike lanes." There are good points to be made about the role of policy and about how to target public funding in the campaign to increase bike safety. Basically the article discusses how money would be better spent on infrastructure offering cyclists space separated from motorized traffic than on laws requiring helmets, and bemoans the role helmet requirements have had on squelching shared bike use. 

Well, duh. 

It's currently fashionable for the blogosphere to poo-poo helmets and for people who don't wear helmets to jump excitedly at generalized policy arguments as reasons helmets won't make them safer.  Helmets don't prevent accidents, wildfires or STDs. That doesn't make them worthless. 

If you don't want to wear a helmet, don't. 

Forget bike helmets:we need bike lanes