There's nothing self righteous about it, it's his belief that his helmet helped and he's entitled to believe that if he wants. It could be self righteous if he'd become a spokesman for a campaign to get everybody wearing helmets by law say, which I don't think he has. So I'm sticking with jealousy.
What tosh. No-one is "entitled" to believe utter crap.
The subtext is "Aren't I good? I don't take unnecessary risks, unlike those nobber bike riders who ride without helmets".
Here's an example of the news coverage:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37198354
"In a
post on the Virgin website, the 66-year-old said: "I was heading down a hill towards Leverick Bay when it suddenly got really dark and I managed to hit a sleeping policeman hump in the road head on.
'Completely destroyed'
"I really thought I was going to die. I went flying head-first towards the concrete road, but fortunately my shoulder and cheek took the brunt of the impact, and I was wearing a helmet that saved my life."
That's self-righteous - the assertion that he did everything right and nothing wrong. It doesn't "suddenly get really dark" in the Carribbean. He was going too fast for the conditions, and didn't slow down for a bit of the road where, presumably, overhanging vegetation cast a dark shadow. The fact that he's a mega celebrity and people will listen to what he has to say adds to his responsibility not to talk nonsense.