>>>> An additional fact like this is riding without a helmet can actually make surrounding drivers perceive you as more dangerous, end up giving you more space,

>>>> An additional fact like this is riding without a helmet can actually make surrounding drivers perceive you as more dangerous, end up giving you more space, and there by make you actually safer. This seems to be a widespread belief, but I don't think it's plausible, for a couple of reasons. First, I doubt that most crashes occur when motorists have had time to make a reasoned judgment about the safety of the cyclist. Being passed too close by a car is only one possible crash scenario. In many others, claims that the cyclist "came out of nowhere" or was "invisible" come to mind as being more likely indicators of the real hazard. Second, as a cyclist, I would not perceive a cyclist without a helmet as more dangerous. I would know that other factors are more important, such as the cyclist's situational awareness and bike handling skill. In fact I am perceptive to whether a cyclist is controlling their bike safely, not that I pass them any closer because of it. I've been a daily year-round bike commuter for a couple decades. I regularly wear a helmet unless I'm going 2 blocks from my house to the store along a particularly tame neighborhood route, which brings up another issue about safety. I've read this article, and it usually gets thumbs-up by cyclists on web forums. But in addition to its excellent study of crash scenarios, one piece of advice lights up at the bottom of the page: *Avoid busy streets.* You can't get hit by a car where there are no cars. I'm lucky to live in Madison WI, which is gradually building bike infrastructure into new street designs, and has a number of nice bike paths. But it also has a network of neighborhood streets that can get you a pretty good ways without having to worry about traffic at all.