'Space for cycling' protest ride 2nd September

@ad441, I'd rather not give up anything for people who haven't yet made the decision to ride, and may never ride, even if segregation and infrastructure are created..

I'm not actually seriously suggesting some sort of voluntary withdrawal from the roads in the hope of more people cycling. I'm just saying that if we could magically have Holland or Denmark's cycle culture instead, I'd gladly take it, even though that would entail slower journeys round town for me personally.

It's not like these countries haven't got traditions of proper road (racing) cycling as well - they just don't mix that up with commuting or going to the shops.

I don't actually see it ever improving much in the UK, which I find pretty depressing. The angry black/white nature of most discussions on cycle forums isn't going to do anything to help either.

If you forced me to choose what sort of cycling culture I'd prefer, personally I'd be more inclined to go for somewhere like Italy, which (in my limited experience) doesn't have a great deal of segregated lanes & has plenty of impatient, incompetent drivers, but at the same time has a basic tolerance of cycling that means they'll only pass cyclists when there's plenty of clear space. I suspect the way of achieving this is having generations of people who've cycled at some point in their lives, combined with liability laws that favour the more vulnerable.
(not going to happen here in my lifetime).