In Japan there are lots of kids commuting to school at six or eight years old, often across town or in different cities. Everyone thinks I'm batshit insane when I tell them what Americans would think of it. I am mostly on board with this, although I did walk an eight year old to the station in downtown Nagoya because he was walking there at ten pm.
Same in Vienna. There are no special school buses, kids just use the same buses and trains as everyone else. In more rural areas (such as where I grew up) kids either get the bus or walk/cycle. In fact, I remember walking home from school together with friends as being quite fun (highlight of the day?), with various adventures to be had along the way. And nobody freaked when it took me twice as long to get home as it should have because we found something exciting in a ditch along the way or decided we needed to climb a tree.
I'm pretty sure any incidents would hit the media pretty quickly. That said, driving your kids to school seems to be much more common now than it was 20 years ago.
My girlfriend, who grew up in the UK, was amazed when she first witnessed the kids on public transport, but then the UK is an extreme case of overzealous protection. These days you apparently can't just pick someone else's kids up from school without special paperwork.
Which does not work? I am too lazy to look for sources right now, but wasn't there a research wich found that childern in UK are the most unhappy in the world? Not to mention problems with alcohol and teenage pregnancy.
I guess this kind of protection is like trying to protect someone by not allowing him to walk on his feet. When finally let go he'd just collapse at once.
I've been to Vienna, and the public transportation there is great.
I was 12 when I first went there to visit family, and I went everywhere by myself (not 9 as the original, but still younger than the US parents would like).
As a tourist I found the way that the destinations were announced over speakers extremely useful, and every stop had maps of the public transportation, timetables, etc.
I'd say it's very likely a 9 year old local would have no problem whatsoever, and I wouldn't find it irresponsible (even less so in today's cell phone age).
I came year wanting to say exactly the same thing.
I walk each day past a primary school and all kids arrive unassisted. There are however teachers welcoming them at the gates and one police officer at the road crossing. But other than that they are on their own.
In Japan, motorcar drivers actually seem scared of pedestrians. I have difficulty crossing the road. In my country you usually stand still beside the road and wait for the cars to pass (for an opening). Here if you even look like you want to cross the road at some point in the future, the cars stop.
Haha yeah, I can imagine that poor tourists coming to Greece from the UK are in for a surprise. We are such shit drivers, but over here (London) if you see a car coming and wait by the sidewalk for it to pass, they stop and let you through. I mean, it'd just be faster for both of us if you continued at normal speed, then I wouldn't have to wait for you to slow down!
Yeah, my country has worse drivers than Greece (trust me).
Here is how I cross the road in Japan: I wait at a place that I want to cross, but I turn my body away from the road. That way they think I am just standing there and drive past (instead of awkwardly stopping, etc...).
A lot of Japanese people that I've talked to don't have driving licenses. One person specifically said that it was because she was afraid of hurting others. That is quite different from my country's SUV style entitlement.
I had the exact same experience coming to London from Athens. I was in absolute shock that cars were stopping for me to pass when I was at a pedestrian crossing. You can't even stand near a crossing without having cars stop, just in case. Of course this only makes it worse when I go back home, and get more and more irritated at the apparent invisibility of pedestrians..
Come to think of it, I didn't think there was another Greek HNer in London, this is definitely worth a beer. Drop me an e-mail, or come to the next HN meetup this Thursday.
Ah, unfortunately I'm leaving this week :/ I'm going back home to be disappointed at our road manners :P I've been here a year, that's unfortunate... Thanks for the offer, though!
My all time favorite unaccompanied traveller is my great grandmother, who emigrated to America with the address of family living in Chicago in her pocket. Being a young lass from the Irish hinterlands, she had no clue how to get there from NYC, and asked a passing Irishman how to do it. He called her a cab, and when the cabbie arrived asked for his license.
"Now James, this is how it is going to be. Young Miss May is going to visit her family, the Henries, out in Chicago. Here is money for the trip. After she gets there, she is going to write me a letter praising your character as a gentleman. If I do not receive that letter, James, I swear by all the saints that you are a dead man."
Obviously, since I am here to tell the tale, James was completed his task with dispatch.
