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I would love to be able to do this with my 3yo son...but there are two things stopping me: Cars and helicopter parent culture. Cars, and the entitled culture w
by saosebastiao 11y ago
I would love to be able to do this with my 3yo son...but there are two things stopping me: Cars and helicopter parent culture.
Cars, and the entitled culture we have fostered around them, make streets hostile to pedestrians and likely fatal to small children, even if children followed the laws and common sense. I experience it practically daily. Every time I cross the street at a marked intersection, cars will stop for me 9/10 times. At unmarked intersections, its more like 5/10. Crossing at a stoplight with a walk signal on is still precarious because of the tendency of many drivers to blow through crosswalks without stopping so they can turn right on red. Every single day I experience a situation that could be fatal to a less visible child with a more fragile body and slightly worse situational awareness. No way.
The second problem is the CPS story. My neighborhood is extremely safe, but the parents here are borderline psychotic about helicoptering their way through their children's lives. Every time I take my kid to a playground, I end up witnessing helicopter parents freaking out about how my kid will climb a ladder by himself or jump off of a piece of equipment by himself... sometimes they swoop in to "parent" for me...and other times they will chew me out for being so irresponsible as to let my kid learn his own boundaries. As much as I respect the mission of CPS, I've heard enough horror stories about their enforcement of parenting methodology that I wouldn't ever risk having them called because my kid walked to the park by himself.
It's a shame.
- e40 11y agoIt's a shame and we will be reaping the side effects of this for decades to come.
- hencq 11y agoI think car culture also means that everything is further away. I grew up in a small town in the Netherlands and from a young age I'd walk/bike everywhere (sports training, friends' places, etc.). When everything is close by, it's easy for parents to gradually give children more space and responsibilities. For example, at a very young age I was only allowed to walk/bike to the end of the street. Then, later, I started walking to school. Then, later still, I'd bike to my grandparents in the neighboring town and so on to taking public transport to the city to go to secondary school. If you have to drive your children everywhere it becomes difficult to gradually give them more independence in this way.
- jzwinck 11y agoBefore you put too much blame on car culture you should know a few things about Japan. First, cars are cheap, and lots of people drive. However, lots of the same people also have a bicycle which they use for short trips including grocery shopping. People also walk. This means drivers have more empathy for people not in cars. Second, the speed limits are low. Some decent looking roads are 50 kph whereas in America they would be 45 mph, about 50 percent faster. Third, children walking to and from school wear fluorescent helmets. This is a safety precaution American children would not tolerate for themselves or on others.
- lovemenot 11y ago>> Third, children walking to and from school wear fluorescent helmets Just bright-coloured soft hats. Not helmets, which would imply head-protection.
- dba7dba 11y agoI wish adult joggers in US would please wear reflective something when running on street. Few days ago I pissed off a biker and a jogger because I didn't see them in time to stop at a safe distance away from them. Guess what? BOTH were wearing BLACK shirt/shorts. Because they were running from my 10 oclock to 2 oclock (outside of cone of headlights), I just couldn’t see them.
- dba7dba 11y agoSouth Korea (especially Seoul) is a similar case. A high percentage of people you see in the Seoul subways actually own cars. Lots of office workers leave their sedans/suvs in the garages of their highrise apartment complexes on regular workdays. They usually walk/bus/subway to/from work. This is because of the crush of traffic at rush hour. You just end up stressed out if you try to drive around in Seoul at rush hour in certain areas. Much less stress/time if you just walk/subway. The cars are usually driven on weekends for family trip.
- kuschku 11y agoSimilar situation in many German cities. Or, if you work in one suburb and live in another, you drive to work, but then whenever you go shopping or anything you walk/take bus/metro/etc.
- Camillo 11y agoAs a foreigner, "right on red" seems insane to me.
- Nadya 11y agoI agree entirely, I also have an issue with "yield on green". Green means "go" at 99% of the lights I run into. Then there's that one left turn I make that's "yield on green" and I'm not supposed to turn. I'm not surprised at all that the intersection has the most accidents annually. I don't think many people are used to yield-on-green lights... so many T-bones its amazing they haven't changed the traffic flow.
- georgeott 11y agoThey removed all the "Yield / Unprotected Left Turn" lights in my town, just for this reason. People simply don't understand. It's a bummer to sit and wait, but it does save lives.
- quasse 11y agoI guess I don't even follow what this means, does every single stop light where someone could possibly turn left now have the green arrow in your town? That seems ridiculous to me, coming from a city where thousands or tens of thousands of stoplights would need to be retrofitted just because people don't know how to turn left on a two way street.
- Camillo 11y agoYou mean this? http://www.epermittest.com/road-signs/left-turn-yield-green http://www.epermittest.com/road-signs/left-turn-yield-green Isn't that just a normal green light on a two-way street? Do you mean all intersections should have protected left turns?
- aianus 11y agoWhat's yield on green? Isn't that a regular green light (you can't turn left unless nobody is coming at you)? That's how the vast majority of green lights work here in Canada...
- monopolemagnet 11y agoMove? Sister-in-law and husband homeschooled their kids on a crop produce ranch they rented in north/central California. And there's always the Appalachia's. ;)
- novaleaf 11y agosupporting anecdote: while jogging in Seattle, I got hit by a cop car turning right on red. only fell to the ground, no injuries (except bumper marks!), but I could imagine a heavy car like that not even registering a little kid hitting it at 5mph.
- abandonliberty 11y agoIn my experience an extremely small proportion of people are aware of unmarked intersections. Even if it's law, we don't teach it to people.