The collision happened in Japan, where cycling is very common. Here in France the biking situation is not homogeneous. Some places make efforts, others don't bother. Where I go on vacation in southeastern France, they converted many old railways in cycling lanes. It's really great.

The welcome was because your post was a nice change to the usually seen (on r/europe and /r/askeurope) topics like "I'm 1/16th German and 1/32th Dutch, welcome me, I'm German and Dutch though I know nothing of either cultures, countries and speak neither language! <3". A well written and though out post instead of "Murica sucks" and you're learning a language... Dutch at that. In other words, the type of people we welcome instead of rolling our eyes and moving on to other posts.