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@WillMelling
I, and every other cycling instructor, encounter these attitudes almost every working day. Helmets have become amulets and it's very difficult to argue against the comforting power of superstition.
No matter that the helmets parents provide for their children may be old, battered, too small, too big, or that they have no idea how to fir them properly. If the belief that strapping half a coconut to their childs head was all that was needed to keep them 'safe' then that is what they would do.
I'm not sure the argument has been lost, the pro-helmet decision is usually based on total ignorance, so it can be countered, but it takes time and effort. I think Richard Dawkins probably has an easier time of it trying to counter religion.