ABSTRACT
On holiday weekends in the 1950s, there was an impressive spectacle on Dutch roads and cycling paths leading to recreational areas. A journalist described how “one long procession of cyclists” used the cycling paths next to roads. But among these cyclists something new was visible: “The mopeds have not had it easy … they certainly did not move forward much faster than the cyclists.” These mopeds, in the early 1950s basically bicycles with a small engine, were not popular with the cyclists forced to share their cycling path. Witnessing this, the journalist noted that “cyclists stubbornly kept their ranks closed whenever they heard one of those mopeds coming.” An understandable reaction, he noted: “It is almost impossible to get out of the way each time, cycle behind one another, for vehicles that are so much faster than those for which cycling paths are intended after all.” 1 What were these mopeds doing on the cycling paths and why were they not using the road?
