I think in Belgium and Netherlands most people are brought up to ride bicycles at a young age. You're only allowed to drive at the age of 18, so a bicycle is ho

I think in Belgium and Netherlands most people are brought up to ride bicycles at a young age. You're only allowed to drive at the age of 18, so a bicycle is how you get around as a teenager. It helps that those are dense countries so you usually don't have to cycle far to get to school/friends/city. Because most of us grow up that way, later in life, when we drive a car, we have the proper respect for bicycle riders. We drive slower when we overtake them, we looks in our mirrors before taking a turn. good infrastructure helps too, but from having lived in the US and Europe, I think it's largely a cultural thing.