I suspect you’re witnessing the same thing that happens when people decide to try commuting by bicycle; they head out on the shortest, most direct route to their destination. Not surprisingly, it’s often a terrible choice. Scouting out better routes takes forethought and effort, and sometimes the willingness to take longer or steeper routes.
It seems in our auto-centric society, people want to ride on the routes they know. Are they unaware, unwilling, or unmotivated to make better riding choices? I dunno. And only you can answer, but are your choices really better? If you could poll all those other riders, would they agree?