It's no one thing that makes the Netherlands so good, but a collection of many different things. User is right that presumption of liability is important, as is the safety in numbers effect. So is the infrastructure (which goes far beyond mere segregation), and the cultural approach, and the approach to making journeys by car more difficult to get people onto other modes of transport..
Hembrow is annoyingly right on some issues, I feel, and wrong on some others. He's dead against the idea that safety in numbers and presumption of liability have any useful effect, but I'm with User on this. They are both parts of the solution, a much bigger part than he likes to admit. Additionally the Netherlands is far from perfect, and there are certainly problems. That said, compared to the UK it's so much better that it might as well be perfect from anything you might compare with over here.
I'm also chuckling at Leodis moving onto a new tack and theorising that the UK can't afford cycle infrastructure, having abandoned his previous points now they've been slaughtered in the debate. The reality is we can't afford not to do extensive measures along Dutch lines, and were there the will the UK could easily afford to take on proper cycling design and planning.
