Cars have gotten larger. They've gotten faster, accelerate a lot quicker, and can stop a lot faster. Take a look at any video of driving from from the '70s-1990

Cars have gotten larger. They've gotten faster, accelerate a lot quicker, and can stop a lot faster. Take a look at any video of driving from from the '70s-1990 of American drivers. Cars were small and a bit uncomfortable, and accelerated slowly. The National Speed Limit Law also had some effect on keeping speed limits low. All of this made it more viable to be a pedestrian or a cyclist even with little dedicated architecture. Today a collector road with a speed limit of 30 mph is seeing drivers at 45 mph, despite stoplights. Nobody is going to bike around 40 mph cars.