Infrastructure can be helpful, but poorly done it can hurt a lot as well. In the US I would say infrastructure is often bike safety theater. In Austin there are

Infrastructure can be helpful, but poorly done it can hurt a lot as well. In the US I would say infrastructure is often bike safety theater. In Austin there are quite a few segregated lanes that I refuse to use because the intersections are not segregated and drivers far too frequently turn without checking for cyclists. I have had far too many close calls. These lanes probably do increase the number of cyclists, but are they actually safer? Ultimately, what matters more is drivers improving how they interact with cyclists. Having spoken with dozen if not hundreds of drivers I am quite familiar with the "I had no choice [aside from almost running you over]", which is never true in my experience. Drivers always have the choice of waiting, but too many are impatient and literally value saving seconds over someone else's physical safety. I think US drivers as a whole are slowly realizing this. The worst is when a driver nearly runs you over right before a stoplight, which you both sit at for a few minutes. In this case the time saved was zero, and this happens a lot more frequently than I would like. Unfortunately many drivers don't think ahead much or else they would often realize that they'd have to wait anyway, so there's no point in passing.