There's a reason we have these rules; it's because idiots don't know how quickly their life can be destroyed by one inattentive moment.
Then they fall off their bike and bust their head wide open, living in hospital for months getting stitched back together on the taxpayer's dollar; or they're just outright killed.
No thought for those who have to pick their corpse off the road and inform their family.
We need to have laws like this because people are stupid.
It's like the rules around monogamy. We outlawed intimacy outside of legally recognised relationships because if people were free to have sex with just anyone, there'd be STDs spreading rampant, costing the economy in productivity and straining the public purse.
You can't have it both ways, if you want to live in a society, that society gets a say in how you live.
This is why we banned surfing, skydiving, rock climbing, motocross and scuba diving.
We weighed the risk to the individual against the benefit to society.
The former was small, but the latter was zero, and they were banned accordingly.
You have an obligation to the rest of us to live your life as risk-free as possible, to remain a productive contributor for the group. An asset.
Any activity deemed unreasonably dangerous by the collective is rightly forbidden to the individual.
We didn't provide all that free education and healthcare while you were a child only to see you die or become defective just as you're getting useful.
Remaining productive until retirement age is your legal and ethical responsibility.
You can't just do whatever you want with no thought to how the potential consequences will affect those who rely on you.
You were born into obligations, obligations you can't be trusted to respect, so we're forced to back them up with laws.
We shouldn't have to, but you should be grateful we do.
It keeps your friends and neighbours productive, helping pay for the enforcement apparatus which keeps us all safe.
You want to stay safe don't you?
Freedom? but you're not in prison. You're completely free. Just obey all of the rules all of the time and you'll remain free.
So if you're stupid enough to ride your bike without a helmet and you see those flashing lights in your mirror, pull to the side of the road and quietly await further instruction.