[jmadsen]

sorry to break in on the generalizations, but -

When I lived in Spain they killed so many cyclists every year, it was the source of macabre jokes. I found that to be true in several other countries.

Probably should leave out the "Europe vs US" bit of your argument, and just stick to what you think the causes are.

[zobzu]

Your reply is not directly to me but you're probably right. I used Europe as well as a generalization but there are some exceptions and I didn't bike in every single EU country (for instance, I've never done that in urban areas/traffic in Spain).

In general the more south you go the more horrible the driving in EU (yeah another generalization but this one seems pretty good).

I've been honk'd heavily in Italy (Naples) once because I was waiting for the traffic light to go green. I thought it must be I missed something but nope.. they just were "never stopping at this one and its bad practice to do so", one guy said.