I am not sure why you got downvoted for stating a fact. About the automotive industry's aggressive lobbying to gain control of the streets in the 1920s, see here for instance:
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797
> I am not sure why you got downvoted for stating a fact.
Personally, I downvoted it for the "civil rights" phrase. It is unnecessary, hyperbolic, and inflammatory; these discussions tend to attract such comments and they derail rational discussion.
