but how exactly do childhood "life skills" (whatever the heck that is) prevent one from being hit by an adult driver who is intoxicated, or talking on a cell phone, or switching radio stations, or fiddling with a map? "Life skills" will somehow prevent a kid from falling while learning to ride without training wheels? Yeah, ask those guys who played in the 60s about how they feel about head-safety gear. Back in the old days, before the advent of modern, half-assed underparenting, those "life skills" worked out just fine, huh? The fact is that helmets make a difference.

Forgive me for saying so, but the use of helmets is a stupid hill to die on. You have a better point about warning labels, and as others have pointed out, that’s more to do with American proclivities toward litigation than “superficial over-protectiveness” of modern parents.