SCRIPT

            LEANNA
Hi I'm Leanna, a 17 year old girl living here in rural England, oh and I like to cycle.

            FRIEND
What, like at the gym?

            LEANNA
Huh' (looks down) no.

        (LEANNA IS SITTING ON BIKE):

Cycling in the UK is…

            DRIVER
Get off the road!

            WALKER
Get off the pavement!

            LEANNA
Sorry!

            LEANNA
Interesting.

Not to mention the hills...

            LEANNA
To be honest with you, I've had enough, so the next thing you know I'm booking plane tickets, packing my bags and waving goodbye to England.

and I guess that brings you to here... The Netherlands!

        (MONTAGE):

            LEANNA
The land of windmills, canals, tulip fields and most importantly cycling.
Good for your health, the environment and your bank account, cycling is the way to go. With the dutch having two bikes to every one person, it's the unrivalled cycling nation.
But it wasn't always this way...

            LEANNA
After WWII, the Dutch economy rapidly grew and from 1946 to 1960, the number of cars increased by 10 times.
However, then came road accidents and in 1971 there were over 3,000 deaths, many of whom were children.
This sparked the campaign “Stop de Kindermoord” or Stop the child murder.
These protests together with oil shortages caused the Netherlands to proclaim Sundays as car-free. This reminded the Dutch how life was before cars conquered the streets.
Governments started building new cycle routes, with other towns following suit. And by the 80s they had created the cycling nation we know today.

            LEANNA
One can only imagine what roads would've looked like had this not happened. Walking down this same street in The Pijp in Amsterdam 50 years later, it's really amazing to see the impact just one small idea can have.
I mean bikes have almost taken over; they're everywhere!
I mean everywhere; they're here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here!

            LEANNA
It's no wonder why; The Netherlands is one of the flattest countries in the world and with ample parking options and long bike paths (fietspad), it's the obvious choice. My question however, is if it will stay this way...

        (TO THE PUBLIC):

            LEANNA
Do you enjoy cycling? Would you rather drive? Do you think people are going to drive or cycle  more in the future? 

        (TO THE CAMERA):
Whilst the number of cars are increasing year by year, so are the number of bikes. The future for the netherlands seems bright and still cycling friendly. With my trip to the Netherlands coming to an end, i want to take all that i have learned from the dutch and their cycling culture and take it home.