Sorry to have made assumptions. My understanding is that there was no pre-existing infrastructure suitable to cars. The dirt and cobblestone roads that existed were inadequate, to put it nicely. I have read up a good bit on such things and drawn a very different conclusion from you.

In the US, personally owned vehicles are critical for sprawling suburbs and rural life. It is a big country with low density. Cars should not be necessary in the big city. Those that are designed well make it possible to live without a car. In much of America, it is quite challenging to live without a car. This is partly due to choices we have made, not because it had to be that way.

The cyclist lobbied for some 'proper' roads to be build at first. The cars found them very useful.

I was curious and found this article - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2011/aug/1...

Thanks. Lots of automobile pioneers, like Henry Ford, were also very avid cyclists.

Not for nothing, but did you ever hear anyone say that a stranger who calls you "friend" isn't one? If not, you have now.

I sometimes use it as a polite stand-in for far less kind modes of address.

Consider leaving it, and them, out altogether.