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Comment by UncleEntity | Hacker News Reader

> To "prove" his point that it was dangerous he drove recklessly around the kids in the street.

It probably is dangerous [0] because people don’t let their kids play in the street anymore so drivers aren’t used to having them there.

Not like when I was a kid where we would get ball games going and pause to let the cars pass. People expected kids to be playing in the street so didn’t drive like complete lunatics.

Can’t even walk through parking lots anymore and everyone knows that there are going to be people walking around all over the place because that’s what they are designed for.

[0] Not advocating trying to scare the neighborhood kids

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From reading the decision and looking at Google Maps: the street is a short, narrow dead-end street in the suburbs. Most of the people who live there have young children who play together.

It would be very difficult to accidentally find yourself on this street, driving quickly.

Of course, it's dangerous in the sense that anything to do with cars is dangerous. But it seems pretty safe as far as these things go.

I live in a much more built up area than this. Mostly small apartment buildings, duplexes and three-deckers. The odd single-family home, usually on the small side. People here still let their kids play in the streets. Not the youngest kids or the busiest streets, but it's not at all unusual to see some kids kicking a ball or playing hockey in the street, or just tooling around on bikes going nowhere.

> It would be very difficult to accidentally find yourself on this street, driving quickly.

As a parent of a 6 years old, I always assume all drivers are not paying attention to the road but rather to their phones when my kid is playing in the street (with supervision because I don't know if he will react quickly to a car coming his way)

It sucks, because I used to play in the street without supervision (to my best knowledge). But today, cars are faster and drivers are more distracted.

> I used to play in the street without supervision (to my best knowledge)

Bro, when I was a kid we went as far as to me intentionally walking into the street to slow cars down just to see what would happen ‘:)

Kids are crazy. Myself in the past included.

That's exactly why I'm sad of the precautions I take. Back then drivers had less distractions while driving. Of course there was the occasionally distracted driver but nowadays is more common than what it used to be thanks to the smartphone.

Teach your kids to move out of the street and stand in the sidewalk or yard. My 3 year old is trained to do this and will do it on her own, still working on doing it 100% of the time.

Neighborhoods have not gone up in speed limits it’s 25 in residential streets unless you live directly off a main road.

> Not like when I was a kid where we would get ball games going and pause to let the cars pass. People expected kids to be playing in the street so didn’t drive like complete lunatics.

In my neighborhood kids play in the street all the time. There are basketball goals up and down my street and the kids pause the ball games to let the cars pass.

Are you sure that you don't just live in a different place now?

Saw kids playing on my last walk around. It still exists in some places.

doesn't the noise from basketballs hitting concrete/asphalt drive you guys nuts?

It's not nearly as bad as the sound of children laughing.

The absolute horror.

for many people there's nothing beautiful in a child's laughter, especially if they don't have children of their own, so they are only getting the annoyance of noise without the good parts.

moreover, in my experience, when children play, 80% of their interactions is ugly insult-throwing, not laughter.

Also, why should the wishes of a group (children) be more important than those of another (those who wish to enjoy some quiet in their own home)?

In this case, it would be easy to reach a compromise. You want to play basketball? go to a proper public park. You want to sing your lungs off? go to a proper karaoke place. And so on.

Also, what's the beauty of a laughter achieved at the expense of others' pain?

If you don’t want to be exposed to other people live somewhere you can’t see your nearest neighbour.

A brief look at their comment history makes me quite sure they should be kept far away from... anyone, really. Except maybe a psychiatrist.

To the grand parent, if you're reading this: please get help. Your views on what activities are/aren't appropriate for children have no place in civil society.

9 year olds, dude.

and who are you to say what "civil society" means?

more importantly, attacking the messenger rather than rationally discuss their arguments is very suspicious...

Don't confuse "the messenger" with "the messenger's message, viewed in context with their other messages on related matters".

Or do, because they're both you.

nope, your comment is all about me personally, my mental health, not my ideas. It's the age old "argument" used to dismiss rational conversation: "no point discussing it, it comes from a crazy guy"

where? it's become nearly impossible because of overcrowding.

Way better than listening to traffic.

My old place was on a Stroad with cars flying by at 40+ mph. I hated the car noise with a passion. I'll take children having good time over traffic noise any day.

Turn up your music so you can't hear it? :)

people who dislike noise usually dislike music too

Interesting. Not sure how common that really is.

For me, I personally have times where I don't like some noises (annoying, etc). My solution at those times is generally to find some music I'm ok listening to (through headphones) and drown out the noise that way.

As you mention though, if it's "any noise at all", then that's going to be tough.

Nope! The only noise in my neighborhood that sometimes annoys me is loud music, but I like people to be able to enjoy themselves.

for many people enjoying themselves means being able to enjoy their own home without being forced to listen to other people excessive noise even through closed windows.

> people don’t let their kids play in the street anymore

Careful not to generalise here. This will vary wildly from place to place and street to street. Here in the Netherlands with limitations on cars I see the streets busy with children year round.

I can't speak for Canada, not having been there, but I read favorable coverage on urban design channels different localities there who have committed to pedestrian friendly designs. It wouldn't surprise me if the street was quiet and designed with safety of children and other vulnerable users in mind.

Caveat: i read in another comment that the speed limit was 25 mph. That's over 40 km/hr. In .nl, speeds on roads in residential areas are typically limited to 30 km/hr (18 mph). And in woonerven, streets designed to enable kids playing on them, speed is limited to walking speed - by judicial ruling, 15km/hr (9 mph).

My kids 3 and under play in the street multiple times a week during the summer. Our neighbors kids will come out if they see and vice versa.

There’s kids that throw footballs and baseballs most weekends during the warm months in the road. They move over.

What kind of place are you living?

> people don’t let their kids play in the street anymore so drivers aren’t used to having them there.

This must depend on where you are, because kids around here play in the street all the time, in residential areas.

There are a few different places within a few blocks of me where there are basketball hoops set up facing the street, so the street is the court. All on side streets, seems like it hasn't been a big problem. Some of them have been there for years at this point.

Not even that far out in the burbs. Mixes of ~5ish story apartment buildings, commercial, and SFH homes for miles in all directions.

Seems like "are people used to people being in the street" is very area-specific. If this was all 5+ story mixed-use apartment developments, like a few miles north? Yeah, you don't see it as much there. On the other hand, if it was even less developed, with basically no non-local through traffic? I've seen even more.

If you vacate the space, you're responsible for the consequences.

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