You and I are often on the same page. I'm not sure that any mandatory bicycle safety class will change much. But decades back when I was closely involved in bicycle safety as part of an organization that took teens out on bicycle tours, we found there was solid evidence of a link between experience and safety. This shouldn't be a surprise, and might simply be natural selection (unsafe riders crashed out of the pool or gave up), but I'll venture that these days the accident rate is different for new and experienced riders.

So a real question is what knowledge and skill gives experienced riders their advantage, and how to pass that to newer riders without depending on the sink or swim method. I don't favor licensing or any mandatory classes, because, while I believe in leading horses to water, I leave the drinking to them.

So, speaking for myself, education in this context should mean making information available, both for cyclists and motorists. Some years back I was in France while they were running PSAs to improve driving (auto) safety. Unlike typical PSAs here these weren't "parental lectures" but focused on specific scenarios such as passing on narrow roads, proper use of high and low beams, entering and merging on highways, and so on. Making similar specific information available here might help.