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Comment by narush | Hacker News Reader

Streets themselves have also gotten much worse! The vast difference in car deaths in the US and other countries is more a question of our infrastructure and what it encourages than anything else.

I read a really great book about this recently -- no vested interest beyond just really liking it. Check it here [1]

[1] https://www.strongtowns.org/book

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Once a road becomes 4+ lanes wide (32ft+), and has a speed limit of 40mph (which means people drive at 50mph), it is basically a boundary that children cannot cross.

And in suburbs across the US, it is very normal to have numerous arterial roads (40mph speed limit) cut through suburbs that are 4, 6, 7, and even 8 lanes wide.

How even a healthy, mobile adult is expected to cross these 60ft+ wide intersections without being scared, I do not know.

There will be 3 lanes going straight through, and a right turn lane and a left turn lane. And half the people will be in SUV/pickup trucks sitting so high they will not see you in front of them, and their giant A pillar will prevent them from seeing you on the side of them.

For those of us who are now parents, think about how easily you could travel to your school, nearest park, grocery store, etc. at the house you grew up in and compare that to where you are living now.

For me:

1> My kindergarten was adjacent to my subdivision. My Catholic elementary school was less that one mile away and very walkable. The public Jr. High and High Schools I went to were a bit over a mile. None of these required crossing busy four lane roads ("Stroads" in Strong Towns parlance). The one exception was my Pre-K that was more like 3 or 4 miles and would involve crossing a busy four lane road.

My kids went to private schools that all required getting on an interstate to get to. Even if they went to public school, the nearest build is 2.8 miles and involve walking along parts without sidewalks.

2> Growing up, I had a big public park adjacent to my subdivision (on the opposite side as the kindergarten) I had most of my soccer and baseball practices there and I walked to them.

Similar parks would be 3-5 miles drive across very busy four lane highways where I live now.

3> Nearest grocery store was 1.2 miles from my childhood home.

Now, it is 4 miles up and across a very busy four lane highway.

Of course a lot of this is just where I happen to be buy my house as an adult and I was fortunate to grow up in a flatter part of town, but it would not be surprising that sprawl has increased the distances on average of these and other basic amenities.

The old locations still exist, but many are priced out of reach, and the lack of kids leads to the school closing.

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