Just wanna point out that mountain biking, motorcycles, and ebikes are more dangerous than normal pedal cycling. Cars are also a huge factor in the safety of all 4 activities (though helmets don’t help very much when you get ran over). But commuting on a pedal bike is actually only slightly more dangerous than walking. People don’t often crash a bike without external factors when commuting.
So my point is, yeah, wear it, but don’t worship it. Safety in each situation is nuanced and complicated. Helmet blaming or victim blaming can be an excuse to ignore larger variables like separated biking infrastructure, reasonable speed limits, and protected crosswalks that don’t let cars share that time with the person crossing (in my city, right on red, and unprotected left - of parallel traffic to the crosswalk…).
I often get thanked for wearing a helmet and I always think “wish I didn’t need to, but the cars in my city terrify me”
I added a front basket to my commuter and I thought I could carry anything