[inopinatus]

> Would I have worn one if it was not compulsory and drilled into me as a child that's what you do when you ride one?

Yes. Because this is a false dichotomy. The latter does not depend upon the former. I can say that with certainty because I received the message growing up in a country with a cycling proficiency programme in schools instead of mandatory helmet laws.

Everyone should wear a helmet when riding, but criminalising noncompliance is an inefficient, reductive, expensive, heavy-handed, unnecessarily punitive, and ultimately counter-productive approach to achieving it.