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A comment on Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime?. Parent comment

Re:Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime? by thrownaway2424 on Sunday April 20, 2014 @09:29PM (#7619242)
I don't think it's that people pretended it didn't matter. They intentionally sited the pollution in neighborhoods full of Those Other People. Take, as an example, my town of Oakland, California. Are there freeways all over West Oakland? You bet. Are there freeways in Piedmont? Of course not. Rich people have historically been pretty careful to keep the freeways out of their neighborhoods. Airborne lead doesn't get very far from the freeway before it hits the ground.

Your overall point is right, though, that mid-20th-century motorist pretty much behaved like an oblivious jerk for decades.

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Re:Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime? by downandout on Sunday April 20, 2014 @09:43PM (#7619285)
> "Rich people have historically been pretty careful to keep the freeways out of their neighborhoods."

You're saying that had something to do with fear of lead poisoning?

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Re:Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime? by watwut on Monday April 21, 2014 @06:23AM (#7620481)
More likely with general fear/dislike of air pollution combined with dislike of noise and high traffic itself. Living close to freeway is unpleasant, rich can afford something else, poor can not. Where it is not about about direct money, it is usually rich not poor who make decisions.
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Re:Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime? by jessaustin on Monday April 21, 2014 @12:06PM (#7621745)
While today it is largely a question of where one chooses, and can afford, to buy or rent, the freeways haven't been here forever. They were built within the last several generations, and always located so that they would destroy the livability of lower-class neighborhoods. The freeway concept is inherently unjust; it doesn't merely reflect the injustice of society.
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Re:Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime? by GFK_of_xmaspast on Sunday April 20, 2014 @11:35PM (#7619642)
There were and are lots of reasons for not wanting freeways in ones neighborhoods, the exhaust is only one of them.
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