> the US the fatality rate is something like 1 per 100 million vehicle miles.
This is true, but this number needs context. Average US driver covers 13k a year * by a lifetime of driving your over 1/2 a million miles per person, so the number you should be presenting is 1 in 200 chance to die. And thats just fatalities, when you consdier serious injury as well, the number isn't great.
> I suspect most people, don’t mind using space for things that are high value, like cars.
Was with you until "like cars". Cars waste a lot of space. They take up space in city centres, parked, while you're working/shopping, when you're actually in them they're still using a lot of space for typically one person. I think we'll see a lot more of this in the coming decades:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_removal