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Comment by seesomesense | Hacker News Reader

Life is a fatal condition.

You can enjoy it while it lasts or spend your minutes agonising over every danger.

To be frank, something like this can't happen in the US.

Then again, we can't even deliver clean water to all of our residents. Not that we aren't on net, better, but we could be.

Kids can't walk 2 blocks to school in the US.

Source? In a town I grew up in kids walked as far as 2 blocks to school.

Or further..

This is not true. There are people and places in the US that have made a fuss over innocuous behavior, but in most places kids can and do still walk to school.

No, in the US you'll be required to show a warning to save your ass. Nothing else would be different.

No. It's illegal to even walk too close to train tracks everywhere in the US, as far as I'm aware. Something like this would never, ever be allowed to get off the ground here.

That's a surprisingly widespread law, worldwide. One that's rarely enforced.

In other words, I don't think anyone asked for a permission here - it would not be allowed either, but IMHO the authorities don't care as long as there's no major problem.

To be fair, there are over 250 million registered passenger vehicles in the US[1], and it's not like all the brake dust and exhaust fumes are safely captured and thoughtfully recycled.

And the food in this railway market looks to me[2] to be entirely whole food (fresh vegetables, fish, craps, etc), so these people are probably eating better than US folk.

Not the mention that the obesity rate of in the US is about twice (33%[3]) that of Thialand (17.1%[4]).

I guess I just don't understand how US people feel they can pontificate about how "this wouldn't happen here", and yet you can't even workout basic universal healthcare and your education system a business that seems to set out to financially cripple people from the outset.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_vehicles_in_the_Unit...

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHMMBhZjoKc

3. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statisti...

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22526130

> To be frank, something like this can't happen in the US.

Yeah? In Redwood City, in the heart of Silicon Valley, freight train lines run right down the middle of residential streets with no fence, raised barrier, or anything. The trains only come through in the night, but kids live in apartment buildings on that street. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chestnut+St,+Redwood+City,...

I'm not sure the market sellers choose low-value land next to the railway line to locate their stalls to enjoy the thrill of passing trains.

There is an ocean of difference between "agonising over every danger" and taking basic safety precautions.

Agreed. How is this even a question? "Agonizing over every danger" != knowingly exposing yourself to a known carcinogen when there are very easy ways to reduce such exposure.

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