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"Given the reputation of the Netherlands as a cyclists’ paradise, you might think that its extensive cycling infrastructure came down from heaven itself, or was perhaps created by the wave of a magic wand.
"Not so. It was the result of a lot of hard work, including massive street protests and very deliberate political decision-making.
The video (via the link above) offers vital historical perspective on the way the Netherlands ended up turning away from the autocentric development that arose with postwar prosperity, and chose to go down the cycle path. It lists several key factors, including:
- public outrage over the amount of space given to automobiles
- huge protests over traffic deaths, especially those of children, which were referred to by protesters as 'child murder', and
- governmental response to the oil crisis of the 1970s, which prompted efforts to reduce oil dependence without diminishing quality of life."
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