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Is it paranoia? If it wasn’t for guns, cars would be the number killer of kids under 16. Note: This includes kids IN cars being ferried around from activity to

Is it paranoia? If it wasn’t for guns, cars would be the number killer of kids under 16. Note: This includes kids IN cars being ferried around from activity to activity. Granted the numbers are lower now than before but that’s because of various safety and traffic calming efforts. Seems like we should push harder on that front, so parents can feel safe encouraging their kids to just pop over to their friends place on their own.

jstarfish 3y ago
It's paranoia. The pedophile panic of the last few decades led to nobody letting kids out of their sight. Things like the sex offender registry "help" but don't at the same time. It's not something I ever concerned myself with ("I know the stats, it's usually a relative!") until someone encouraged me to do it while closing on a house. I'm now acutely aware of the fact that there are dozens of child predators within a 1-mile radius of my home.
Tade0 3y ago
According to this poll: https://reason.com/2014/08/19/august-2014-reason-rupe-national-survey/ https://reason.com/2014/08/19/august-2014-reason-rupe-nation... Americans are split regarding whether there should be a law requiring 12-year-olds be supervised when playing in a park - no cars there. As an European, to me this is absurd. At twelve I had a bus card and the privilege to go wherever, as long as I respected curfew.
- pj_mukh 3y ago
  Well that's my point, the parents thinks its a dude in a white van to be scared off. But the numbers say its the actual white van going too fast on a four lane road (speed limit 45mph) next to the park. This isn't that much of a problem in older European cities.
  - Tade0 3y ago
    The city I grew up in was levelled by Nazis during WW2 and rebuilt to be car-centric. The OP said that everyone is walled off by cars so they have a mindset of controlling their children, lest they get run over. You're saying that they're actually afraid of kidnappers etc., while they should be of cars. To me these points are contradictory. In any case do you think removing cars will solve the problem? My guess is that no, because this mindset appeared decades after cars took over, and these things are actually not related.
    - Atheros 3y ago
      If the cars caused the mindset then the mindset would necessarily be delayed by two generations because mindset and worldview changes require new humans.
fallingknife 3y ago
If people felt safe at the higher numbers 50 years ago and don't at the lower numbers today, then the numbers aren't the issue.

jstarfish 3y ago

It's paranoia. The pedophile panic of the last few decades led to nobody letting kids out of their sight. Things like the sex offender registry "help" but don't at the same time. It's not something I ever concerned myself with ("I know the stats, it's usually a relative!") until someone encouraged me to do it while closing on a house. I'm now acutely aware of the fact that there are dozens of child predators within a 1-mile radius of my home.

Tade0 3y ago

According to this poll: https://reason.com/2014/08/19/august-2014-reason-rupe-national-survey/ https://reason.com/2014/08/19/august-2014-reason-rupe-nation... Americans are split regarding whether there should be a law requiring 12-year-olds be supervised when playing in a park - no cars there. As an European, to me this is absurd. At twelve I had a bus card and the privilege to go wherever, as long as I respected curfew.

pj_mukh 3y ago
Well that's my point, the parents thinks its a dude in a white van to be scared off. But the numbers say its the actual white van going too fast on a four lane road (speed limit 45mph) next to the park. This isn't that much of a problem in older European cities.
- Tade0 3y ago
  The city I grew up in was levelled by Nazis during WW2 and rebuilt to be car-centric. The OP said that everyone is walled off by cars so they have a mindset of controlling their children, lest they get run over. You're saying that they're actually afraid of kidnappers etc., while they should be of cars. To me these points are contradictory. In any case do you think removing cars will solve the problem? My guess is that no, because this mindset appeared decades after cars took over, and these things are actually not related.
  - Atheros 3y ago
    If the cars caused the mindset then the mindset would necessarily be delayed by two generations because mindset and worldview changes require new humans.

fallingknife 3y ago

If people felt safe at the higher numbers 50 years ago and don't at the lower numbers today, then the numbers aren't the issue.