I have mostly DOT Full, 3/4 and 1/2 styles. A couple of vintage Bell's I don't use but collect.
Been riding since I was about 11. On the street since 1974 when I turned 16. Everything from a ct70 to my 1500 Valkyrie. I ride mostly with a helmet, but have gone without in several states where they are not required.
I know the risks, having crashed on blacktop twice in the past 35 years. Both times just me and the bike. No other riders. Caught a semi hidden divider and cartwheeled through an intersection. Rode away with a nasty gash on my full coverage Shoei and a snapped collar bone. The other time I hit something slippery and was on the blacktop before I had any chance to react. Smacked the blacktop with a different full coverage helmet. Both impacts were in the area of my temple. Rodeaway from that one with just a bruised ego.
One other incident was doing about 35 in an industrial area, and a large truck in front of me drove over some gravel and a hardball sized rock shot out from under his rear tire and hit me at the edge of my full coverage face shied, shattering it, but deflecting the rock. Didn't wreck, but got lucky.
The bottom line is that it is a dangerous sport. It doesn't require an idiot in another vehicle talking on a cell phone. I am a very experienced rider. I take few chances. Accidents still happen. Blacktop is really hard. Leathers and fiberglass really do help you keep riding. People get killed in both DOT and non-DOT helmets, but I am guessing the numbers are higher with the latter.
Personally, I like the sound-deadening effects of a helmet when over 35 mph. I also love the feeling of wind in my hair on occasion. It is all a calculated risk, and the choices you make in how you ride and what you wear will determine how much of you skin you leave behind when you eventually do crash. You have to determine you own pain threshhold and how much life insurance to buy. Sometimes I worry that I am worth more dead than alive . . .