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The public's safety is not enhanced by seatbelt or helmet laws. The individual's safety is what is enhanced.
But you drive on public roads, built and maintained by the state, using individual tax dollars... as long as the state owns the road, they get to set the rules of the road. It's also a public health issue, seeing as how the public ends up eating the increased costs of medical care for people who are seriously injured in accidents when they don't wear seat belts and helmets.

it should be the (adult) individual's choice to make
It is the individual's choice to make... if you're willing to break the law and drive without a seat belt, go right ahead. I hope you don't get in an accident...

How about skydiving, bungie-jumping, spelunking, scuba diving....
As long as they're done on private property, I don't think the state can really do much to enforce laws on those. Of course, the FAA could regulate skydiving if it wanted to...

It's also a public health issue, seeing as how the public ends up eating the increased costs of medical care for people who are seriously injured in accidents when they don't wear seat belts and helmets.

B.S.!

You think someone who can afford a $20,000 Harley isn't going to carry medical and disability insurance? Get a life.

It turns out that motorcycle drivers tend to be better insured than most car drivers. I read the Harborview study ("The Public Cost of Motorcycle Trauma) and found the math to be seriously flawed. Not to mention the fact that all injury costs were included and helmet status of the injured parties was not determined. It was assumed that if someone was in the trauma center they were not wearing a helmet.

Quiz time! What is the most frequently broken bone in motorcycle accidents?