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America was no less a car culture in the 80’s and yet we had much more mobility. I was walking to school by myself as a six year old, and everyone else did. Now

America was no less a car culture in the 80’s and yet we had much more mobility. I was walking to school by myself as a six year old, and everyone else did. Now your parents did. It’s only the perception of risk that changed.

mcpackieh 3y ago
Both perception of risk and tolerance of risk.
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  I’ve heard it theorized that the reason we are less tolerant is that we have fewer children. It was once not uncommon, not even that long ago, for a family to have several children, and one did not make it through childhood. It was still tragic, of course, but I think people find it significantly more tragic if you have one child, and that child does not make it through childhood. But I definitely agree that both are factors. I think the perception comes largely from the Internet. Everyone thinks crime is going up, even when it is going down, and the only reason that makes any sense is that we simply hear more about it.
userinanother 3y ago
The actual risk has changed. The risk vector is different though. Where before the risk was from a predator, now the risk is from a “Karen” calling CPS on you as well as the social costs of other people judging you as a bad parent.
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  That had to follow the change in societal norms though. When I was a kid if you called CPS because somebody let their kid walk to school they wouldn’t have done anything. The norms changed due to different assessment of risk, then, perhaps other risks followed
  - userinanother 3y ago
    CPS has had massive overreach in power. Somehow they are now both able to make life difficult for decent parents and are just as bad or worse at protecting at risk youth. I think they probably realized that they would have an easier time going after struggling but generally decent parents vs going after complete degenerates.
david-gpu 3y ago
> It’s only the perception of risk that changed. The more people travel by car, the worse the experience is for everybody else. For example, as more people drive their kids to school, fewer people become comfortable letting their own kids walk because the traffic around the school is so much worse. The actual danger, not just the perception of it, has increased. And besides the increased danger, there is also noise, peer pressure, etc. Without better policies the situation will not improve.
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  I just don’t think it has anything to do with cars. I think the movie Mystic River did far more to stop people letting their kids travel around unsupervised. If anything, all sorts of traffic deaths are much lower than they were when I was a kid. It’s not cars parents fear, it’s crime

mcpackieh 3y ago

Both perception of risk and tolerance of risk.

mattmaroon 3y ago
I’ve heard it theorized that the reason we are less tolerant is that we have fewer children. It was once not uncommon, not even that long ago, for a family to have several children, and one did not make it through childhood. It was still tragic, of course, but I think people find it significantly more tragic if you have one child, and that child does not make it through childhood. But I definitely agree that both are factors. I think the perception comes largely from the Internet. Everyone thinks crime is going up, even when it is going down, and the only reason that makes any sense is that we simply hear more about it.

userinanother 3y ago

The actual risk has changed. The risk vector is different though. Where before the risk was from a predator, now the risk is from a “Karen” calling CPS on you as well as the social costs of other people judging you as a bad parent.

mattmaroon 3y ago
That had to follow the change in societal norms though. When I was a kid if you called CPS because somebody let their kid walk to school they wouldn’t have done anything. The norms changed due to different assessment of risk, then, perhaps other risks followed
- userinanother 3y ago
  CPS has had massive overreach in power. Somehow they are now both able to make life difficult for decent parents and are just as bad or worse at protecting at risk youth. I think they probably realized that they would have an easier time going after struggling but generally decent parents vs going after complete degenerates.

david-gpu 3y ago

> It’s only the perception of risk that changed. The more people travel by car, the worse the experience is for everybody else. For example, as more people drive their kids to school, fewer people become comfortable letting their own kids walk because the traffic around the school is so much worse. The actual danger, not just the perception of it, has increased. And besides the increased danger, there is also noise, peer pressure, etc. Without better policies the situation will not improve.

mattmaroon 3y ago
I just don’t think it has anything to do with cars. I think the movie Mystic River did far more to stop people letting their kids travel around unsupervised. If anything, all sorts of traffic deaths are much lower than they were when I was a kid. It’s not cars parents fear, it’s crime