When Henry Ford constructed his first steam-powered mechanism – the ancestor of the car – in the United States, the first cycle path was opened in The Hague. Queen Wilhelmina bought a bicycle for herself in 1896, became a passionate cyclist for life, and her successors have all followed her example.
Today, the number of cycle paths in the Netherlands is about one thousand, with a total length of 17.000 km. Compared to its population of 16 million, the Netherlands has the highest number of bicycles in the world, almost 20 million. Bicycles are organic parts of the urban landscape, and they enjoy strong social support in traffic as well. We have gone a long way to achieve all this, though.
Critical Mass is an initiative of enthusiastic young Hungarians, which has now been organised for years, in order to promote this environmentally friendly and healthy form of transport. Due to the efforts and the events attracting tens of thousands, the number of its followers is on the rise, as is that of the cycle paths in Budapest.
As the Ambassador of a truly bicycle-favouring country, I would like to provide the participants with my words of encouragement and support, and wish the organisers endurance and success in their valuable work.
Best regards,
Ronald Mollinger
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
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