"Per capita, Americans rely on their cars more than Europeans. But adjusting for the size of the country, automobile usage is lower only in Finland, Sweden and Greece."

It sounds like some interesting mental hoops were jumped through here. I wonder what exactly this is supposed to mean? cars/(person * m^2), perhaps? If so, I'm not sure how meaningful that number really is.

About the cars: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tra_mot_veh-transportation...

Yes, America is on top. Plus the article doesn't say what kind of cars the Americans drive and what kind of cars Europeans do.

That is a nuance that doesn't show up in the crudest statistic, motor vehicles per capita, because the USA has a huge fleet of working vehicles. In fact, it uniquely has nearly as many "goods vehicles" as passenger cars in the latest figures from the UN Economic Commission for Europe:

http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/brochures/transport_indicator...

I find this surprising not because of cultural norms, but because of the much higher price of gas and taxes on cars in Europe.

Europeans may also use their cars less. Most people I know in London own a car, but most only use it on weekends or holidays.