A great Dutch ‘invention’ is what is known as a Bakfiets - effectively a longer, heavier bicycle with a large ‘bucket’ (bak) at the front that can carry two children and/or lots of shopping or goods.
Also worth noting is the huge environmental cost of cars - not just in carbon monoxide, huge array of components and metals they require to build, impact on climate change, etc., but also how they create ‘nature barriers’ dividing land corridors for flightless animals. Witness roads in the middle of otherwise pristine forests or road networks that clear huge swaths of wilderness.
I’ve frequently thought how the true cost of cars has been understated, possibly due to the assumed bias that cars are positive pieces of technology, lobbying efforts by vehicle manufacturers, a bias against public transport, etc.
Cars are in many ways, the precursor to the most private of popular, self-focused technologies: the mobile phone.
Cars benefit a private (individual, family) need generally over a public one. It is your car and your ‘asset’. Whilst there are, of course, ‘public cars’ (taxis and ride-sharing), they are not the norm in most cities, in most suburbs, in most places.
We should, as a society, spend more time debating the merits of cars and road networks - especially factoring in the downsides for those with physical disabilities and those on low incomes.
edit: fixed spelling mistake, added last three paragraphs.