Questioning car culture: Lessons from an empty motorway

Fifty years ago, an empty motorway symbolised hope.

That evocative photo - four children cycling along a vast, car-free expanse – hangs in our office. It captures a fleeting moment during the OPEC oil crisis of the early 1970s when Dutch roads stood silent.

Back then, the Dutch government’s Sunday driving bans were more than just an emergency measure to reduce oil consumption; they helped boost a burgeoning movement away from car dependency. The four young faces were unknowingly riding into a future where cycling would become not just possible, but inevitable.

Today, The Netherlands boasts some of the world’s safest, most comprehensive cycling infrastructure - a result of sustained public will and forward-thinking policies. Their cities are quieter, cleaner, and more liveable, with calm streets where children cycle not as a novelty, but as the norm.

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Contrast that with the UK, where car dominance remains firmly entrenched. Efforts here to replicate even fragments of Dutch success—through traffic calming, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), or improved active travel provisions—are often met with resistance that feels as reflexive as it does reactionary. Opponents frame such changes as anti-car or disruptive, failing to see them as pro-people and transformative. Behind every LTN protest lies a deeper, almost cultural, reluctance to reconsider the primacy of the car. We’ve built not just roads, but identities around driving. For many, the car is synonymous with freedom, status, and convenience, even though it contributes to congestion, pollution, and the erosion of vibrant public spaces.

Car Free Day: Then and now

That resistance isn’t new. Two decades after that Dutch motorway photo, we at ETA helped launch Car Free Day in the UK. What began with promise soon expanded into a global phenomenon involving over 1,000 cities. Yet, here at home, its impact has waned. Where it should have sparked a movement, it has often been reduced to a well-meaning but short-lived PR event. Towns participating have dwindled, and long-term initiatives to reclaim streets are frequently derailed by a vocal minority. Their objections often mask a deeper anxiety: a fear of losing the car's centrality in daily life.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover  and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK's most ethical provider.

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