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After reading the parent I was about to say "I'm almost 30 and I barely feel safe wandering alone". Not just crossing major roads (I live downtown in my little
by freehunter 10y ago
After reading the parent I was about to say "I'm almost 30 and I barely feel safe wandering alone".
Not just crossing major roads (I live downtown in my little city, but I have to cross a major road to get to any shops, which puts a big damper on my walking) but just one person walking down the road, by themselves? It's almost a scandal. And if I'm biking around town, especially not dressed in spandex like a bicyclist... what, did you have your driver's license taken away?
I know those are purely my hang ups and no one has ever stopped me and questioned my motives, but the idea comes from somewhere. It comes from a childhood where you weren't supposed to wander alone, and you were supposed to avoid strange men on the street. Then when you grow up to become a strange man on the street, you can't help but feel uncomfortable about it. At least I can't.
- Kluny 10y agoYeah, it's weird as hell to be the only person walking on an empty street.
- saurik 10y agoI actually got stopped by the local police a year or two ago for going on a walk during a holiday, as they received reports of some strange guy walking alone.
- orless 10y ago"Walking, just walking, walking?" This reminded me of the short story "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pedestrian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pedestrian We've studied this story in the English class (probably some 25 years ago).
- uxp100 10y agoThat's a bummer. One of my favorite things is to walk down the middle of the street in my Grandma's town on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Small town, shops are closed, quiet except for a few bars and people's homes. Also a good break from family, and a walk on a day where I eat a lot.
- nickt 10y agoMe too. Cop said, "are you English?" "Yep" "Though so"
- balabaster 10y agoHahaha I get this every time I cross a street upon a suitably large gap in traffic rather than waiting for the lights... because that's what we learn growing up in England where almost nobody waits for the lights - especially if there's a gap in traffic. The numbers of people gobsmacked at this behaviour here is... funny, honestly. As a pedestrian, are you really going to stand around and be dictated what you can and can't do by a stupid fcking light? Life is short, get your head out of your phone, pay attention to your surroundings and cross the fcking road before the little light comes to tell you that your time is up and it's your turn to go to the next life and you missed it. Every time someone baulks at me for doing it, I can't help but grin and remember the quote from the original Point Break: "It was about us against the system. That system that kills the human spirit. We stand for something. To those dead souls inching along the freeways in their metal coffins ... we show them that the human spirit is still alive."
- couchand 10y agoYou and Bob Dylan. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/14/bob.dylan/ http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/14/bob.dylan/
- paulmd 10y agoNow there's a title that's straight from The Onion.
- Broken_Hippo 10y agoI lived in a place that was about 5 miles outside of town if you took a main road, and 6-8 miles if you took the country route. Of course, taking the main road by foot or bicycle would get you stopped by the police telling you to not do that on that road. It was for cars, not pedestrians.
- kwhitefoot 10y agoI remember reading that it happened to Isaac Asimov many decades ago so it's not a new thing (in the US that is).
- vidarh 10y agoMy uncle, aunt and their two children moved to the US for a few years a long time ago, and had the same happen: First day in a new neighbourhood, what do you do but have a walk around to see what it's like? The police assumed their car must have broken down, and on hearing they'd intentionally set out to walk around the neighbourhood, they seemed to imply they didn't think it was safe and offered to drive them home. It satisfied a few European stereotypes of America all in one go. I'm pleased to have visited various parts of the US since, and confirmed it certainly doesn't happen everywhere, but I've also experienced first hand just how pedestrian hostile some areas are...
- eeZah7Ux 10y agoHappened to me as well. A culture filled with imaginary dangers lurking behind every corner could benefit from some soul searching. Sadly, the less people walk around the more pedestrian hostile the city becomes.
- baursak 10y agoSometimes it can get worse than that. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/assault-charges-dropped-alabama-cop-who-partially-paralyzed-indian-grandfather-n573806 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/assault-charges-dr...
- espitia 10y agoReminds of a time when a friend Of mine was rollerblading to my home from hers (~5 miles). She called me mid way because she found 2 kids (maybe 12 years old) carrying a ton of stuff down an empty 3 mile road. She asked me to drive my car to them to help them out carrying all the stuff. When I got there, one of them hopped on right away but the other held back, almost with a scared face. My friend insisted that they let us help but I told her to leave them alone. We left. It felt weird to feel like I did something wrong.
- nicky0 10y agoImagine the story from the kids point of view. "We were walking down the road in an isolated place, and this car came along and tried to make us get in"...
- pharrlax 10y agoThis is one of the biggest reasons it was refreshing as hell to move to the big city, as paradoxical as that sounds. Rural/suburban life is like living in a barren wasteland marked by occasional oases you have to travel between in a metal spaceship. Living in an area where commuting to work and activities by foot is completely normal feels like rediscovering a lost sense of communal society, and there's a relief and a comfort to it that's difficult to articulate.
- dsfyu404ed 10y ago>Rural >barren wasteland If you're a glass half empty person. Many people see it as freedom to do close to whatever you want without anyone caring.
- m3rc 10y agoWhat, people who live in cities don't have freedom? And the user you replied to wasn't talking about space available like in a truly rural setting, they were talking about how it's impossible to live in a suburban or rural setting without centering your life around the car you drive.