Spitoon, exactly. You put it better than I did.
In the US, any flight will be in class E airspace from FL180 down to at best 10,000 ft around the major terminal areas, and down to typically 3000 or 4000 ft around any other places (many much busier than Teesside).
In Germany, many flights are in class E from FL100 down to 3000 ft when going to smaller airports.
In France, there are many destinations for which the flight will operate in class E or G from FL120 down to the surface.
Given, in particular that the US operates this system and has about half of the world's aircraft movements, if flying outside controlled airspace is sooooo dangerous, where are all the bodies?