My sense is less that the world has changed to become more dangerous and more car-centric than it is that parents have changed to be more risk averse and started encouraging structured time for other non-practical reasons.
Miles traveled per person [0] peaked in 2005 and has been down ever since, but my and my peers' childhoods in suburban America in the 2000s was way more free range and unstructured than what I'm seeing among children in the same neighborhoods today.
Before we could drive we rode our bikes everywhere. Once we could drive some of us got cars, others made a habit of regularly borrowing the family car or had a shared "kids" car. We found ways to meet up, we made friends with kids who lived in our immediate neighborhood. We had the regular set of structured activities that were popular (some sports, band, orchestra), but hours per week per child spent on after-school activities that were organized by adults was very small among my friends (fewer than 2-3) relative to today.
And all of that was at the peak of driving in the US. The USA hasn't gotten more car-centric since then, but children have lost freedoms. Cars can't explain that.
Miles traveled per person [0] peaked in 2005 and has been down ever since, but my and my peers' childhoods in suburban America in the 2000s was way more free range and unstructured than what I'm seeing among children in the same neighborhoods today.
Before we could drive we rode our bikes everywhere. Once we could drive some of us got cars, others made a habit of regularly borrowing the family car or had a shared "kids" car. We found ways to meet up, we made friends with kids who lived in our immediate neighborhood. We had the regular set of structured activities that were popular (some sports, band, orchestra), but hours per week per child spent on after-school activities that were organized by adults was very small among my friends (fewer than 2-3) relative to today.
And all of that was at the peak of driving in the US. The USA hasn't gotten more car-centric since then, but children have lost freedoms. Cars can't explain that.
[0] Second graph: https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2018/12/staying-up-to-speed-...