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Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

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Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#441

Post by pezezin »

david-gpu wrote: post #356
pezezin wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't believe me go to Europe and Japan Depends where in Japan; I live in a small city, and it is the worst urban sprawl that you could ever imagine. You absolutely need a car for everything, but at the same time the streets are really narrow and dark, and without sidewalks. It is not fun, to put it mildly.

Cars slow down in narrow winding steets. Wide straight streets are very prone to speeding.

That is true.

Still, driving through a dark and narrow street or road, especially at night (coming back from work), with pedestrians wearing dark clothes (some people are smart enough to wear reflecting bands, but they are few and far between), is quite stressful. Many times I have been surprised by a pedestrian appearing out of the shadows only a few meters in front of me.

Likewise, being the pedestrian is also stressful. People don't believe me when I say I feel unsafe walking out at night here. Sure, I don't have to fear criminals, but I fear the cars.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#442

Post by pezezin »

bedobi wrote: post #397
Dalewyn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Because in the US they would be roadkill, Have you actually experienced Japanese drivers? They make American drivers look absolutely noble (and truthfully, we are) by comparison. For starters, and this applies to both individual and professional drivers: * They don't give way to emergency vehicles blaring the sirens. * They don't wait for people to finish crossing intersections. * They don't let other drivers into t…

I lived in Japan for five years and I don't agree with you. There's plenty of shit drivers there as everywhere but the physical environment (not the least of which street parking not being a thing) enables people to exist a lot more safely and conveniently outside of a car than in the US and the data bears that out. Eg narrow roads improves safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists alike.

> Eg narrow roads improves safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists alike.

Bullshit. Almost 6 years in Aomori, and rare is the month that I don't see a car crashed on the side of the road, even on sunny summer days. Meanwhile in my home region (Extremadura, Spain, also a rural region) I could go years without seeing a single crash. I am sure that the design and maintenance of the roads has something to do with it.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#443

Post by pezezin »

Dalewyn wrote: post #192
nox101 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lived in Japan 20 years and still spend ~2 months a year there including last month. Never experienced any of this except "most roads are very narrow" which is only semi-true. It's true many small roads are, um, small. But there are plenty of big roads as well. I've never seen dedicated police supervision. I have seen directors around road construction. That's no different than in the states.

Here's some more detail concerning pedestrians crossing intersections that I mentioned earlier. In America, it is literally against the law to enter an intersection unless you can completely cross it without stopping. That means if a pedestrian is crossing, you wait outside of the intersection for them to finish crossing first. In Japan? With pedestrians crossing? You enter the intersection and hopefully you stop inc…

> Japan is world renowned for their hospitality, but Japanese drivers are by far some of the biggest assholes I have ever seen in my life.

xD

If it is of any consolation, all the gaijin in my office agree with you.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#444

Post by lotsoweiners »

downut wrote: post #249
thayne wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what the percentage is, but having a school within walking or biking distance is definitely not uncommon in US suburbs. At least in the areas I've lived (in multiple parts of the country), schools are generally built close to large neighborhoods, and have dedicated infrastructure to help kids walk to school. Grocery stores are less likely to be within walking distance. But then, even if I could walk to a…

None of the US comments are true in the large areas of Georgia and Arizona that I'm familiar with. Sidewalks are very uncommon. One side of street only, if even there. Which is problematic at multilane intersections. Then the kid has to cross twice on each side. I actually managed to get a crossing light installed on my kid's bike route to school by complaining to a city council member. There are traffic jams at ever…

> There are about 7 grocery stores within 5 miles of my suburban house.

I have 2 (soon to be 3) grocery stores within a 8-12 minute walk of my very suburban home in my master planned community full of tract homes. I see some people walking to and from the store occasionally and I’ll walk there on occasion in the winter when the weather is nice. I just don’t understand why I would spend 20 minutes doing something that can take me 3.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#445

Post by shiroiushi »

monkeyfun wrote: post #376
shiroiushi wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's part of it, but not all: it depends on the buyer. People buying big trucks as a fashion statement are definitely doing it for this reason, but there's people who genuinely need trucks, and they're all bitching and complaining about 1) trucks costing $50k-100k because they're basically luxury vehicles and they don't make cheap, utilitarian versions any more, and also because all those fashion-statement buyers h…

Isn't it almost cosmically funny that the response to people who do want small trucks is to try banning the kei trucks, often over claims of "safety"? Weird that the more unsafe (to everyone else) and wasteful and polluting but also more profitable to industry modern trucks and SUVs are legal in their place!

The loophole for the kei trucks is that they're more than 25 years old, so they get "antique car" status in most places (except where they're now stamping that out of course). But lots of other antique cars are allowed on the road, and while kei trucks are inherently unsafe (they don't conform to federal safety laws and don't have any real crumple zones because of their size), the other antique cars are also just as unsafe, if not more so. But you don't see any of these places trying to ban people from driving their antique Model T or '55 Chevy.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#446

Post by newswasboring »

vidarh wrote: post #430
newswasboring wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now you are moving the goal post. And if you ask me, those are just masks for inner racism about immigrants stealing their jerbs. I live in Europe and I don't see this being a big consideration. So if I'm not hearing it from my fellows then I would need at least a survey to believe this. I've seen those surveys for US.

No, I have not moved any goalposts. I explicitly made the point that the impression is common, despite the actual numbers not supporting it. That was the entire point of my comment. I don't know what you thought you read. And I agree it's usually about racism. If you live in Europe, just look at the EU Parliament elections and see how the far right did. Or follow the political discourse in pretty much any European co…

If it's so common you could have linked to one report rather than write this mini essay

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#447

Post by adrianN »

AmVess wrote: post #281
gnz11 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each US state has a gas tax already. Higher gas prices also don’t seem to stop people from buying giant trucks and SUVs.

A reasonable well optioned truck is $75,000. People who can afford to spend that are immune from high gas prices.

Make gas ten dollars a gallon and people will consider a more efficient car.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#448

Post by adrianN »

CalRobert wrote: post #135
bedobi wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

guess what kills the most children, criminals or cars?

If only we made killing children with your car a crime.

Intentionally killing children with your car is a crime. Playing with your phone while driving is "a tragic accident".

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#449

Post by eru »

jwells89 wrote: post #380
eru wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could compare the US today with the US a few decades ago. I think people where on the move a lot, too?

I don’t have data to back it up but I think both the number of people moving and the frequency of moves has increased substantially in the past couple of decades. Some of this is undoubtedly going where opportunities exist; my graduating high school class (late 00s) for example all moved away from the area I grew up in simply because there’s nothing out there except for a handful of dead end minimum wage jobs, with p…

See eg https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w9857/w9857...

https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2016/10/what-c... has more recent data. The headline of 'What Caused the Decline in Interstate Migration in the United States?' might be telling.

See also https://www.brookings.edu/articles/u-s-migration-still-at-hi...

> Annual movement within the U.S. is stuck at a postwar low rate of 11 percent. This 2016-2017 rate is not statistically different than the 11.2 percent rate of 2015-2016, the lowest mobility rate in any year since this annual series began in 1947-48 (see Figure 1). The decline in annual mobility rates, from over 20 percent during some years in the 1950s and 1960s down to almost half that today, is the result of long term trends, such as the aging of the population (older people move less than younger people) and rises in homeownership (owners move less than renters). Yet the downward mobility trend of the last decade can certainly be tied to the lasting effects of the Great Recession and housing bust which occurred over the 2007-2009 period.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#450

Post by eru »

gnz11 wrote: post #271
ponector wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fuel tax is the best solution. Pay as you go. More fuel you consume more emissions you produce, more distance you go, more road your wear occurs. Do you want to get 8l V8 engine? Fine, just pay your fuel taxes.

Each US state has a gas tax already. Higher gas prices also don’t seem to stop people from buying giant trucks and SUVs.

By global standards, the American states have very low gas taxes.
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