Re:How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
by ams6110 on Tuesday August 28, 2018 @07:32PM
(#17863877)
That's too bad. When I was 12 (late 1970s, Midwest US) I rode my bike all over the place. No mobile phone either. I'm sure there were as many pedophiles and kidnappers then as now, but I never encountered any. I think the risk of a totally random stranger doing anything is very overblown. And traffic was certainly less aware of bikes. You learned to pay attention to cars.
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Re:How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
by __d on Tuesday August 28, 2018 @10:09PM
(#17864823)
When I was 12 (late 70s, Australia) I rode my bike all over the place. Rode to and from school, about 25 minutes each way. And through the forest at the edge of town -- we'd disappear for hours there, riding as far as the next town (1 hour downhill :-)
We knew where the dodgy guy hung out near the public toilets in the park, and avoided him (the teacher at school was a different matter).
I think ... people were less alienated from society then. It seems different now.
Re:How the Dutch created a casual biking culture
by Cthulhu_ on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @05:58AM
(#17867024)
There's been a few high profile cases of e.g. the van luring kids with puppies or the abduction and rape from the street, but those are edge cases - most cases of pedophiles are from e.g. teachers and family. People you trust and drop your guard around. Not "stranger danger".