A student in Ms. Murphy's class at a  youth center with a safety program for kids suggested this article that shows the advantages of wearing bike helmets . Is A Helmet Worth It? 

I get joy form biking.  I often see the sunset,the moon,  birds, leaves, wildlife, and friends while biking.

There are also some good groups that work on bicycle safety:  League of American Wheelman and a group that tries to get more protected bike lanes constructed: https://peopleforbikes.org/.  Personally I like having a flashing rear red light and a bright front light to use at night along with panniers or baskets so that I can carry stuff. 

At a recent Boulder city council meeting,it came up that a high percentage (90%?) of accidents of cars with with bikes and pedestrians result in death when the speed limit of cars is 30 mph and that lowering the car speed limit to 20 or 15 mph makes it so that 90 % of the people live.  Students and parents speaking up individually and as part of a group at local government meetings can make a difference!

Also, at that meeting, councilman Sam WEaver noted that 3,000 auto accidents in Boulder cost $ 100 million , which works out to be about $ 33,000 per accident.  so it is well worth it to lower the general speed limit within the city limits for non-arterial roads in order to save lots of money, not to mention to prevent suffering and death..