I don't think anyone is saying "don't wear a helmet." What's being stated is that you can't stop at "wear a helmet," and doing so does more harm than good by creating a false sense of safety. A helmet will protect you from _some things_, no doubt. It won't protect you from a car whose driver just dumped his soda in his lap, and swerves when looking down to see the damage.
The article cites the Netherlands, where bicycling is extremely popular, but helmets are not. The "safety" comes from the infrastructure which reduces hazards that make bicycling unsafe. Visibility, and isolation from 3000+ lb metal objects are the two most important things.
There's a fun catch-22 here. You need more riders to create safety (groups of cyclists are visible. large groups of cyclists can advocate for bike lanes, etc), but without safety you can't attract new riders.
They're pitted against each other because when biking accidents happen, the biker is often blamed, especially if they weren't wearing a helmet. This is partially done to avoid having to improve the biking infrastructure. But, as the article claims, improving biking infrastructure would improve biking safety more than chastising bikers who don't wear helmets.
The article cites the Netherlands, where bicycling is extremely popular, but helmets are not. The "safety" comes from the infrastructure which reduces hazards that make bicycling unsafe. Visibility, and isolation from 3000+ lb metal objects are the two most important things.
There's a fun catch-22 here. You need more riders to create safety (groups of cyclists are visible. large groups of cyclists can advocate for bike lanes, etc), but without safety you can't attract new riders.