I felt a little bit like the guy in the saying about horses and water. But on the other hand, I'm sure these people aren't dead today because they won't take the lane. They probably find cycling a lot more anxiety ridden than I do every now and then because of it, but taking the lane isn't like wearing a seat belt. At least on most urban streets with low limits imposed by traffic and not just by the posted limit.

Sometimes I think this ( meaning a lot of cycling safety - taking the lane in my example ) has almost nothing to do with education. Instead, I wonder if it's a personality thing, like introversion/extroversion. Maybe some people are inherently willing to put their own safety first on a regular basis, and others are more concerned by social etiquette? Or maybe some other concepts besides safety and politeness, make one person tend to ride a particular way, and another person differently?