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@Velocio
I am not a pessimist either.
But I look at the way the world works, and I see that those with the ability to sign the cheques or make the orders to achieve change are only influenced by their interests. And their interests are "Is this costing me?" or "Is this benefiting me?".
And those costs and benefits are measured in sterling and votes.
Who pays (in votes or money) when a cyclist dies? Pretty much no-one.
Not the politicians, not the insurers (it's less than a blip) and frequently not even the person who was in control of the vehicle.
The non-pessimistic but very realistic read is that as no-one pays... there is little cost. Why fix something that has only a negligible cost?
And sure, you could argue about the cost savings to the NHS of a healthy populace, the benefits to local businesses, etc, whatever... but... it's irrelevant, they aren't hitting the bottom-line (sterling or votes).
Ed joked up above that it will change when an MP dies. But MPs mostly drive. And so do others who control things.
More people need to die for the costs as they are measured today to add up.
Just try not to be one of the stats until the tipping point comes... because this week is not the tipping point.