which countries are they? I guess somewhere in Europe?
In my country which is fairly progressing, (and I presume most South East Asia countries at least), the infrastructure are not conducive to riders or even pedestrians. Roads are build with no pavement for people to walk by, even in residential areas. The bicycle lane are pathetically small and narrowly designed that riders have to dangerously share the small strips of lane with other vehicles. People will use car even when going to shops that will only take 5 minutes walk.
They want to reduce the cost of constructions, I guess. But I wonder how much the country can save in the healhcare system by providing good infrastructure resulting in health-minded citizens that prefer to walk and ride.
is there any reason research you know of that supports this? I am interested in the idea of keep learning to prevent degrading.