I see it as more a matter of the distance needed to travel to work / shopping / school / whatever and how very inclement the weather might get (e.g. dangerously hot wet-bulb temps, blizzards). As someone who used to motorcycle through New England winters (no car) I can tell you that single track vehicles are dependent on traction for both direction and simply staying upright (camber force). And yes, I used to have a fall about once a winter.

Distances have more to do with residential patterns - but we have suburban development to thank for the reason our WWII vets had the number of kids they did, and their kids (the Boomers) at least had enough kids to maintain demographics. OTOH, France has managed to maintain a healthy demography without sprawl - but the rest of Europe seems to be in trouble, particularly Germany.

But we have the built environment we have.

Disclaimer: Boomer here who had no kids due to Malthusian concerns