Remember kids... always wear a helmet. (The almighty bikeradar helmet thread)

ummm ... .... ... bike helmets are designed to give 'protection' by compressing the foam, in low speed impacts. If your helmet splinters into pieces it has failed to absorb most of the impact. Putting your faith in crumbly plastic seems silly to me.

Infact all of the scenarios above happened to me, multiple times,

• says it all.
  

People who don't wear helmets take a little more care, go a bit slower, have more time to see and avoid the loonies out there and are much, much less likely to get smashed up. simples