I wear lycra, mainly for the padding on the crotch.
But I agree, even wearing lycra it's possible to ride politely and defensively and share the road.
Riding in France/Switz took a bit of adjustment. Quite freaky going anticlockwise around a roundabout.
That's where I realised how important eye contact with drivers is at intersections. Initially when I was looking at the drivers I was intrigued by how little attention they seemed to be paying, until I looked at a car and there was no driver at all! Of course, I was looking at the wrong seat...
On the whole, drivers there were very polite. But there's still << expletive deleted >> in every country.
