[QUOTE=BleeckerSt_Girl;542476]This resulted in the current situation where cycling is considered to be either a sport or recreation rather than simply a form of normal transportation.
The average civilian is afraid to ride a bicycle anywhere except on designated recreational 'paths'. Roads are not designed here to make bicycling safer, and aggressive drivers are not punished or educated to 'share the road'. Bicyclists get yelled and cursed at to 'get off the road' and to 'get off the sidewalk'.
Even small town or suburban kids and teens who used to typically ride their bikes to school are now driven to school even when it's 8 blocks away.

Hear, hear!! I know my neighbors think of me as "eclectic" for riding my bike with Wald baskets to the grocery store. People have even asked me if I'm riding my bike because I lost my license to drive! I ride on roads--even busy ones--just to make the point that it's do-able and drivers are just going to have to get used to me being there. The more of us they see out there, the more "normal" we'll become to them.