1920's and 1930's: The first golden age of Dutch bicycling. In 1930, there were 2.7 million bicycles in the country compared to just 68,000 cars. 

1940's: The World War II changed everything for cycling in The Netherlands. In 1940, Germans invaded and began a 5 year long occupation of the country during which, the Germans imposed tire rations, stole an estimated 50% bicycles from the residents, destroyed 60% of all roads, bridges and tunnels. Cycling traffic fell by over 50%. 

1950's: The Netherlands started to rebuild their country almost from scratch taking inspiration from the United States. There were 139,000 cars in 1950.

1960's: The Dutch government hired an American planner named David Jokinen to help modernise the city of Amsterdam. The plan was to demolish working class neighbourhoods,build massive highways and even fill some canals with concrete to turn them into roads.   

1970: Between 1945 to 1970, the GDP per capita grew by a factor of 5. The Dutch government built infrastructure for cars. There were 3.4 million cars.  

1970's: Cities like Amsterdam used to have just as much traffic and air pollution as cities in the United States or India do today. As the number of cars rose, so did the number of people - approx. 3000 people were killed by cars each year. 

1971: Five hundred children were killed by cars. One of those children was Simone Langenhoff, a 6 year old girl who was struck and killed by a car on her way to school. In response to the tragedy, her father, a journalist, wrote a front page article with the provocative title “Stop de Kindermord” or “Stop Murdering the Children.” The article inspired protests and eventually an entire movement.

1972: The Dutch government released a report showing that it would cost billions to continue building roads and highways - this kind of spending just wasn't feasible. Politicians agreed that the country needed to look for alternatives to cars

1973: Gas prices skyrocketed (up by 300%) due to the first oil crisis. The prime minister urged people to use less energy and change their lifestyle.   

1974: Prime Minister Joop den Uyl and his wife accepting a record with a protest song by 'Stop de Kindermoord'  with the radical title:
"playing on the streets: death penalty"

1980's: Early experiments in building bicycle infrastructures: Few Dutch cities began to experiment with new ways to get people out of cars and onto bicycles again. The Hague and Tilberg built a few bicycle lanes. But bicycling rates did not go up. City planners learnt that it was not enough to build a few dedicated bicycle lanes. They needed an entire network of bicycle lanes throughout the city. Delft spent USD 12 million equivalent to build city wide bicycle network. Bicycle use went up by 6% and driving went down by 3%. 

The Dutch government went on a bike lane building spree. Over the course of 10 years, the government built about 7,000 kilometers of bike lanes, growing the total number of bike lanes in the country by about 70%.

1990's: But despite the growth of this network, people weren’t biking that much more. In 1990 Dutch people biked 12.8 billion kilometers. 4 years later in 1994, they biked 12.9 billion kilometers, a difference of about 100,000 kilometers.

2000 onwards: The Dutch Ministry of Transport adopts Ton Welleman's study which suggests a two pronged strategy: make it pleasant to bicycle, and make it a pain to drive. Dutch cities like Amsterdam and The Hague have discouraged car use by making parking expensive, and the fund thus collected is used to build bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.  Dutch cities also use a city planning strategy called “traffic calming” to slow down cars. The basic idea is to make it difficult to drive fast by making roads more narrow, reduce speed limits, add bumps, etc. All this makes driving less desirable; simultaneously making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The result is less driving and more biking and walking. Many cities have also begun converting roads into car-free zones. 

2010: All of these policies and changes have had an incredible impact on The Netherlands. In the 1970s about 500 children were dying from car fatalities per year. Four decades later in 2010, 14 children died, a decrease of about 97%.

2020: Compared to the United States, the Netherlands has 3 times less car fatalities per capita. All of this bicycling is also improving people’s health. The policies have also cut the Netherlands carbon emissions. The Dutch people drive much less and and a result their cars emit 3 times less CO2 per capita.

The above picture from 1974 says a lot. It shows the then prime minister of the Netherlands, Joop den Uyl, and his wife, accepting a record from the foundation ‘Stop de kindermoord’ (stop the child murder) with a protest song - "playing on the streets: death penalty".

This was at their home where they were adressed as parents. It gives a clear picture of how the pressure groups of the 1970s managed to get the political powers to listen to them and take action. It took them a decade, before not only decision makers, but also the planners finally listened to the protests. Getting the people who take decisions and those who have to draw plans for the streets to adopt the new ideas: that is where the real change started.

The contents are from  one of the most popular posts by Mark (see Reference below). Note his emphasis in the last paragraph about addressing the Prime Minister and his wife as parents. They were addressed as equals and as people in a similar situation to the protesters. This was not a "them vs. us" situation but one of mutual respect and support.

This is the essential difference between how the Dutch achieved change and how many other campaigns elsewhere have failed to achieve change. Campaigning for cyclists or cycling is not effective as you're then campaigning for an out-group and not proposing something beneficial to the masses. Similarly, there is no point in campaigning against drivers as you are then pitting a small group against a much larger group. What's more, while the Netherlands has been more successful than any other nation at reducing use of motorised transport, this country has achieved that end without alienating drivers and without overt anti-car measures. Choosing to fight against drivers means picking a battle which cannot be won and one which in any case you don't want to fight.

Excerpts from Michael Thomas's Article in Distilled (see [3])

1980's: The Dutch government went on a bike lane building spree. Over the course of 10 years, the government built about 7,000 kilometers of bike lanes, growing the total number of bike lanes in the country by about 70%.

But despite the growth of this network, people weren’t biking that much more. In 1990 Dutch people biked 12.8 billion kilometers. 4 years later in 1994, they biked 12.9 billion kilometers, a difference of about 100,000 kilometers.

As Ton Welleman wrote in what’s now a famous study for the Dutch Ministry of Transport:

“The construction of a network of bicycle routes is insufficient in itself for bringing about a sustainable increase in bicycle use. The simultaneous execution of a policy discouraging car use is deemed necessary.”

In other words, if you want people to bike you can’t just make it pleasant to bike. You have to make it a pain to drive.

2000 onwards: 

Over the last 20 years, Dutch cities like Amsterdam and The Hague have done just that. One way they’ve discouraged car use is by making parking expensive.

“In the city centre, you pay seven euros per hour [to park],” de Lange said. “If it's expensive, people will think about going by car twice.”

But policies like this don’t just discourage people from driving. They also provide income for the government. And most Dutch cities use that income to fund bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

In addition to making parking expensive, Dutch cities also use a city planning strategy called “traffic calming” to slow down cars. The basic idea of this is to make roads more narrow, reduce speed limits, add bumps, and make it difficult to drive fast.

This makes driving less desirable. But it also makes it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The result is less driving and more biking and walking.

Many cities have also begun converting roads into car-free zones. As the name implies, these are areas of the city where cars can’t travel with the exception of delivery trucks and emergency vehicles.

2010: All of these policies are working

All of these changes have had an incredible impact on The Netherlands. In the 1970s about 500 children were dying from car fatalities per year. Four decades later in 2010, 14 children died, a decrease of about 97%.

2020: Compared to the United States, the Netherlands has 3 times less car fatalities per capita. If the US could replicate this, we’d save 20,000 lives per year.

All of this biking is also improving people’s health. Everywhere in Europe, obesity rates are growing with one exception: The Netherlands. As Melissa and Chris Bruntlett point out in their book, Curbing Traffic: “Similar bicycling rates in the United States would save a staggering 125,000 lives each year.”

These policies have also cut the Netherlands carbon emissions. In the United States the average person emits about 5.4 tons of CO2 per year from driving. Dutch people, on the other hand, drive much less and as a result their cars emit 3 times less CO2 per capita.

Change doesn’t happen on its own

We often look at our societies as fixed and stuck in their ways. We think “The United States will always be a land of strip malls and highways.” Or we think the world will always run on fossil fuels.

The reality is that none of these things have to be true.

The Netherlands is proof that societies can and do change - and sometimes they can do it quickly. But as we saw, these transformations don’t happen on their own.

They happen because people like the activists that started the Stop de Kindermord movement. They happen because of smart decisions by government employees that rarely get the credit that they deserve. They happen because of people who show up to their local town meetings.

But the first step in making these changes and building better cities is believing we can do it in the first place!