As an immigrant who walked everywhere where I grew up, this is one of the things I miss the most about living in America. Walkable neighborhoods are rare in most parts of the US, let alone the cities. I wish we had more places to walk. Sigh.
In the U.S. walking has even been criminalized to some extent for those in out groups. For instance, if 4 black teenage boys walk together in an affluent, white neighborhood they can expect police to stop them. Walking is so rare that a small group of people walking together is seen as something out of the ordinary. I think it’s bad for society to be set up this way.
I walked a block with a friend yesterday next to a relatively busy feeder and someone in a passing car screamed at us. It's not a rare occurrence, I have plenty of memories of walking to the nearby gas station convenience store as a 13 year old and the same happening.
People really underestimate how antisocial people are to walkers in the US.
Well the issue can be even more profound than that: areas that actually physically cannot be walked at all (excluding technicalities like walking on busy roads). On the bright side, you can't be arrested for walking somewhere that doesn't even let you walk there.
This article doesn't talk about "walking" though. It talks about two things - jaywalking, i.e. walking in places designed for motor vehicle traffic, and minor children walking on public street unaccompanied by adults. While both have arguments in favor of current regulation being excessive (the latter probably has much stronger case, my whole generation's childhood is "child endangerment" by these laws, I wonder how we survived) - you comment implies it's about generic walking and racial angle, which it is not.
I remember when I was younger, that in many suburban neighborhoods it was common (i.e. expected) that everyone would walk around the block after dinner. You'd see all these couples walking slowing, chatting with neighbors, and basically showing their face.
Around where I live, there are large residential areas with no sidewalks at all. It blew my mind when we first moved here. I still don’t understand the reasoning behind it. Some of those areas are in the hills with winding roads, it’s pretty scary walking there, having to be constantly on alert.
This is not just a US thing. I have definitely been outside of towns in the UK for example where there are no sidewalks and walking along the narrow country lanes with zero shoulder is scarier than most places I've experienced in the US.
czstar|3 years ago
https://illinoislawreview.org/print/vol-2017-no-3/the-crimin...
verall|3 years ago
People really underestimate how antisocial people are to walkers in the US.
bigDinosaur|3 years ago
smsm42|3 years ago
woweoe|3 years ago
kordlessagain|3 years ago
mellavora|3 years ago
That probably died in the 90s.
nico|3 years ago
ghaff|3 years ago