I have to agree with the OP but for slightly different reasons.
I used to live in England and there was no footbridge or underpass over the very dangerous dual carriageway splitting the semi rural community in half. People were regularly killed, well perhaps one very few years, trying to cross it on foot.
There used to be a footpath along the busy B road at the end of my driveway. It became overgrown and damaged a while ago, and the local authority refused point blank to cut back the vegetation more than once a year. It was therefore unuseable and you just had to drive everywhere because it was too dangerous to walk.
This is actually quite typical of the poor infrastructure in the UK. Yet at the same time the UK's working people are paying higher taxes than ever. The council tax/property tax is ridiculous compared to the European country where I now live - I pay ONE SEVENTH of what I paid in the UK, and the place is immaculate. Lots of on and off road runs.