Interesting debate wrt Libertarianism. Everyone seems to enjoy freedom, (whether they properly appreciate it or not), but there is the theorem of "your rights end where mine begin". IOW, you do not have the right to burn pig schit on your property if I have to breath it next door. You can do whatever crazy/dangerous/stupid stuff you want as long as i don't have to pay for the results.
That pretty much encapsulates society's attitude about helmet-less MC riders. They make great organ donors but they can also cost taxpayers millions when they wind-up brain dead for decades on a ventilator in a public/county hospital. And don't think it doesn't happen. I've known some personally.
I enjoy being able to take a mellow scooter ride in MN. w/o a helmet, maybe around the lake or something. Of course there is a risk of head injury but it's minimal when I'm sober and riding like the middle-aged guy that I am. In theory and principle, I am against helmet laws because it's the state affecting my body directly. (What I can wear while riding a MC). Still, there are some very powerful arguments for helmet laws.
Oddly enough, the two states I live in have each reversed their MC helmet laws in opposite directions in my life of riding. Minnesota used to have a helmet law but repealed it in about 1977, CA. never had a helmet law until 1992. Helmet laws are particularly offensive to Harley riders, just messes up the whole look, I guess...
I also have a *helmet saved me* story. I crashed a Vespa scooter in Paris back in about '02. (Bicyclist turned in front of me while I was going ~40mph). I dumped the scooter and went cart-wheeling down the boulevard, my head hit the pavement so hard that it knocked me out cold and broke my eardrum. I would certainly be dead or a potted plant if I was helmetless. Ironically, (or not), France has socialised medical care that is excellent and they scraped me off the street, put me in an ambulance and treated me @ the ER w/o ever even asking for ID. The care was excellent including X-rays and an MRI and the people were fantastic including the FD paramedics.
Here I am in one piece at the hospital, (w/ broken ribs and eardrum):
