Originally Posted by
randya
Interesting, because when we rented a car to travel in Southern France in 2004-5, I did not see any draconian measures being enforced, in fact I saw no enforcement at all.
I also saw motorists sharing the road with two wheelers, including scooters, motorcycles and bicycles, instead of driving aggressively around them.
Then perhaps you should read the report you posted the link for. They mentioned several draconian measures; first, all of the countries other than the US have a centralized governmental control of legislation and enforcement. Something that is thankfully no possible under the US system. Secondly all of the countries other than the US have instituted programs that allow for random screening of drivers for sobriety tests--something the 4th amendment of the Constitution would disallow.
About the only recommendation in the report that makes sense is the basic one of strict enforcement of existing traffic regulations...
Oh, and the report is not about sharing the road, it is about highway safety. The report and its data had little to say about whether cycling was safer or not in the studied countries. No need to muddy the waters with preconceptions...