Wrong place for helmet debates. 
But, if you do want to know whether helmets are worthwhile, there is a whole section of CycleChat for that sort of discussion. 
Take care with Cyclecraft. It's a useful guide but that's all it is. It doesn't tell you how to act on every inch of every stretch of tarmac, it just suggests possibilities and makes you aware and awake to the dangers, particularly the danger of riding in the gutter or riding as if you weren't meant to be on the road. It helps you to become assertive but only experience will tell you what bits to use and when. Franklin, in writing Cyclecraft, has done what I wouldn't and has tried to tell people where to ride but, being a book, it has to be generalising and it cannot decipher situations for you. TBH, I found it a little too prescriptive, a little too rigid.
For instance, I now default to the right side of a queue of stationary traffic, preferring to go between the lanes rather than between the cars and the pavement. However, there's also plenty of places and situations where I will ride to the left, but I wouldn't want to start listing them as they relate to the roads that I know with very specific variations depending on road widths, junctions, schools, markings etc. I wouldn't even want to say what speed the cars reach before I'll stop overtaking them and fall into the line because a lot of that depends on looking 100m+ up the queue and seeing what is happening there.
Another for instance, the most dangerous situation I've witnessed in the past 3 years was a cyclist who wanted to turn right at a roundabout who rode down the white line between the two lanes, and got passed on both sides at the same time. Had they"taken the lane" in either the right or the left lane, they would have only had a danger on one side or the other, by riding down the white line, they left themselves vulnerable to idiots on both sides.
A lot of this is very precious to me at the moment, as my son has recently started commuting 3.5 miles into town on a bike. He has over 1 mile of NSL, about the same of completely quiet road (they diverted the main road and left the old road blocked off as a cycle lane), and passes 3 office buildings (very busy entrances in the mornings), 2 junctions, 3 roundabouts, a race course (which has weekly evening meets) and numerous houses on the way. Trying to gauge his ability and confidence and match that with advising him where to ride has occupied much of my life for the past few months.
But, if you do want to know whether helmets are worthwhile, there is a whole section of CycleChat for that sort of discussion. Take care with Cyclecraft. It's a useful guide but that's all it is. It doesn't tell you how to act on every inch of every stretch of tarmac, it just suggests possibilities and makes you aware and awake to the dangers, particularly the danger of riding in the gutter or riding as if you weren't meant to be on the road. It helps you to become assertive but only experience will tell you what bits to use and when. Franklin, in writing Cyclecraft, has done what I wouldn't and has tried to tell people where to ride but, being a book, it has to be generalising and it cannot decipher situations for you. TBH, I found it a little too prescriptive, a little too rigid.
For instance, I now default to the right side of a queue of stationary traffic, preferring to go between the lanes rather than between the cars and the pavement. However, there's also plenty of places and situations where I will ride to the left, but I wouldn't want to start listing them as they relate to the roads that I know with very specific variations depending on road widths, junctions, schools, markings etc. I wouldn't even want to say what speed the cars reach before I'll stop overtaking them and fall into the line because a lot of that depends on looking 100m+ up the queue and seeing what is happening there.
Another for instance, the most dangerous situation I've witnessed in the past 3 years was a cyclist who wanted to turn right at a roundabout who rode down the white line between the two lanes, and got passed on both sides at the same time. Had they"taken the lane" in either the right or the left lane, they would have only had a danger on one side or the other, by riding down the white line, they left themselves vulnerable to idiots on both sides.
A lot of this is very precious to me at the moment, as my son has recently started commuting 3.5 miles into town on a bike. He has over 1 mile of NSL, about the same of completely quiet road (they diverted the main road and left the old road blocked off as a cycle lane), and passes 3 office buildings (very busy entrances in the mornings), 2 junctions, 3 roundabouts, a race course (which has weekly evening meets) and numerous houses on the way. Trying to gauge his ability and confidence and match that with advising him where to ride has occupied much of my life for the past few months.
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