I will ride defensively at all times, and wear a helmet (CA law requires this anyway). I've watched too many close calls to not know that everyone else on the road is a potential hazard.
Until about a year ago the wife and I didn’t wear a helmut then we came around a corner just after some assclown tried to pull a wheelie and crashed and split his head like a millon.
He died instantly. He’d just sold the bike and was riding it ,”one last time”.
His brains spilled out like a cracked egg.
Wear a helmut iven if in an area where not the law.
Honest.