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In the 1960s, Dutch cities were increasingly in thrall to motorists, with the car
seen as the transport of the future. It took the intolerable toll of child trafc
deaths and erce activism to turn Amsterdam into the cycling nirvana of
today
Renate van der Zee
Tuesday 5 May 2015 08.04 BST
nyone who has ever tried to make their way through the centre
of Amsterdam in a car knows it: the city is owned by cyclists.
They hurry in swarms through the streets, unbothered by trac
rules, taking precedence whenever they want, rendering motorists
powerless by their sheer numbers.
Cyclists rule in Amsterdam and great pains have been taken to
accommodate them: the city is equipped with an elaborate network
of cycle-paths and lanes, so safe and comfortable that even toddlers
and elderly people use bikes as the easiest mode of transport. Its not
only Amsterdam which boasts a network of cycle-paths, of course;
youll nd them in all Dutch cities.
The Dutch take this for granted; they even tend to believe these
cycle-paths have existed since the beginning of time. But that is
certainly not the case. There was a time, in the 1950s and 60s, when
cyclists were under severe threat of being expelled from Dutch cities
by the growing number of cars. Only thanks to erce activism and a
number of decisive events would Amsterdam succeed in becoming
what it is, unquestionably, now: the bicycle capital of the world.
At the start of the 20th century, bikes far outnumbered cars in Dutch
cities and the bicycle was considered a respectable mode of transport
for men and women. But when the Dutch economy began to boom in
the post-war era, more and more people were able to aord cars, and
urban policymakers came to view the car as the travel mode of the
future. Entire Amsterdam neighbourhoods were destroyed to make
way for motorised trac. The use of bikes decreased by 6% every
year, and the general idea was that bicycles would eventually
disappear altogether.
All that growing trac took its toll. The number of trac casualties
rose to a peak of 3,300 deaths in 1971. More than 400 children were
killed in trac accidents that year.
This staggering loss led to protests by dierent action groups, the
most memorable of which was Stop de Kindermoord (stop the child
murder). Its rst president was the Dutch former MEP, Maartje van
Putten.
I was a young mother living in Amsterdam and I witnessed several
trac accidents in my neighbourhood where children got hurt, van
Putten, 63, recalls. I saw how parts of the city were torn down to
make way for roads. I was very worried by the changes that took place
in society it aected our lives. The streets no longer belonged to the
people who lived there, but to huge trac ows. That made me very
angry.
The 1970s were a great time for being angry in Holland: activism and
civil disobedience were rampant. Stop de Kindermoord grew rapidly
and its members held bicycle demonstrations, occupied accident
blackspots, and organised special days during which streets were
closed to allow children to play safely: We put tables outside and
held a huge dinner party in our street. And the funny thing was, the
police were very helpful.
Van Putten remembers the 70s as a time when Dutch authorities were
remarkably accessible: We simply went to tea with MPs and they
really listened to what we had to say. We cycled with a group of
activists and an organ grinder to the house of the prime minister, Joop
den Uyl, to sing songs and ask for safer streets for children. We didnt
get beyond the hallway, but he did come out to hear our plea.
Stop de Kindermoord became subsidised by the Dutch government,
We have achieved a lot, but were facing many new challenges, says
their spokesman, Wim Bot. Many old cycle paths need to be
reconstructed because they do not measure up to our modern
standards some are used by so many people that they are no longer
wide enough. We have the problem of parking all those bikes, and we
are thinking of new ways to create even more space for cyclists and
pedestrians. What our cities really need is a totally new kind of
infrastructure. Theyre simply not t for so much car trac.
The battle goes on, says Godefrooij. The propensity of urban
planners to give priority to cars is still persistent. Its easy to
understand: an extra tunnel for cyclists means you have to spend
extra money on the project. Weve come a long way, but we can never
lower our guard.
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