Why are cars more popular than bikes in Australia?

We have a whole lot of wildlife on and near our roads on the two main ones are kangaroos and wombats if you hit either of these in a car you are lucky to be able to drive after it happens on a bike you have no chance at all and our roads are terrible. On a lighter note a lot of it has to do with our culture, How far we have to travel just to do our shopping, Our weather can change in a matter of minutes, Most of the population live near the ocean and what you should take for a day at the beach will not fit on a bike all of these things come into play when most of us decide witch form of transport we use.