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Ooh, nicely. I saw Carlton's Kickstarter when he first launched it and then forgot all about it, so good to have a reminder that his book is out. Will pick that up on Kindle along with the Davis download. Hope there's a better way to read J.S. Dean's one than needing to read it through Issuu.
Thank you!
bothwell
Oliver Schick
Essential reading and essential book purchase if you want that question answered:
http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/
Carlton has helpfully put 'Murder Most Foul' on-line (since the RoadPeace reprint doesn't seem to be available any more):
http://issuu.com/carltonreid/docs/murder-most-foul
(Terrible proofreading but a good book.)
There's also Bob Davis' book, now available for free download:
http://rdrf.org.uk/death-on-the-streets-cars-and-the-mythology-of-road-safety/
Knock yourself out. :)
The short answer to your question is hinted at here:
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/179185/newest/
tl;dr--the 'upper' classes started cycling, motor cars were invented, the 'lower' classes took to cycling en masse, cycling wasn't special any more, the 'upper' classes took to motoring, causing a huge death and injury toll, didn't want to be held to account for it, and 20th century futurism/progressivism talked a lot of bollocks about the supposed shape of the future. People bought into the American dream of unlimited mobility, cities sprawled, causing a greater and greater need to travel, from 1970s onwards deaths an injuries entered a sustained period of decline, partly owing to more and more traffic at a standstill, especially in city centres. Increasingly desperately defended attitudes persist that driving all the time is the future and anyone who doesn't play is a spoilsport and just gets in the way. Stereotypes are changing from 'cyclists are poor and/or eccentric' to 'cyclists are "upper"/"middle" class twits who only care about themselves and run over small dogs'. The story continues ...