Lower speed limits? 100km/h on rural roads here in Austria and drivers just don't care enough to keep to those limits. Smaller cars? Thanks to the SUV it has become a nightmare with those massive cars that cause a lot of wind turbulence when they overtake you on your bike.

Cycling in European cities is basically just pure luck and depends far to much on the local legislation and the major. The last local election in Spain has put a lot of conservative and right-wing majors into office, many openly campaigning with turn-backs on all the work Spain has put into creating cycling infrastructure. Here in Austria the neofascists Freedom Party interprets freedom and being able to drive and park everywhere by car, same for the convservative Bundeskanzler who is in a coalition with a toothless Green party. Being a cycling advocate is a fight for each and every cycling path and even then the local city planners can still mess up and build the worst possible solution.