I'm not some arrogant cyclist, insisting on my right to be somewhere - I use what is often the only road that takes me where I want to go. Personally, I find windy b-roads a bit scary too, and there's a downhill I have to take that's got a 'cycle lane' painted on, with cars parked on the left of me (so if anyone opens their door, I'm dead), cars in a narrower-than-usual lane to the right of me, and a diversion onto the pavement at the bottom, with a bus stop for the unwary to crash into. So basically every segment of a cycle journey is terrifying one way or another, and I just have to not think about it too much or I'd never go anywhere.

North America is full of those dual carriage motorways, with no alternate roads in many areas. No one enjoys riding on them, they just don't have another choice.

It's also a North American past-time to blame the guy trying to get to work or school when some inattentive driver mows him down.