Gary,
When I crashed outside Toronto a year ago Tuesday, the cops asked the people treating me at the site if I had had a helmet on ; to which they said yes. I could see the cop standing there with a clipboard filing out the accident report as I lie waiting for the ambulance. I get wound up by these reports as well, but I suspect that newspaper reporters also have a checklist they use to detail accident reports. By the way, I never wore a helmet when I lived in Maine, but have had to these past 8 years in San Diego, and now I am not comfortable riding without one. My friends in Maine commented on it last year when I was there. I'm sold however, you should have seen the visor on the 1/2 helmet I had on in Canada. I would have been missing an eyebrow for sure, maybe worse. I hate to agree with anything the insurance companies say, but there's worse things can happen to you than having to wear a helmet.
Brian