I was born in 1980. I walked to school (5-10 minutes) on my own starting in Grade 1. My sister was usually with me, but who wants their two-years-older sister walking with them anyway? Therefore I often walked alone to and from school. Maybe this is just me being nostalgic, but all of my friends did this in the 1980s. It was a big deal when someone's parents came to pick their kids up because you could usually bum a ride home without walking. That was a rare occasion in my memory.

Even in Canada, there was the rare time in the 1980s where a kid would be kidnapped. We locked our doors at night, but not during the day when we were home. If we left the house we locked the doors. When my parents were growing up they claim that they never locked their doors even at night while they were sleeping. This would be the 1950s and 1960s. My mom and her brother would always leave their bikes on the front lawn because nobody would steal them.

In 1991, when I was 11 I was at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game. At the end of the game being the explorer I was I wanted to walk around the stadium as it emptied out. My parents complied and waited by their seats in the rapidly secluded stadium while I explored - alone. Somehow, I lived. :D Would my parents be considered negligent in 2010 if they did this now?

I remember picking up a hitchiker to be not as big of a deal. I remember walking home from my friend's houses at night all by myself even at 10 years old about 5 minutes or so. I went Trick or Treating with my friends and no parents.

Today, I go visit my mother who lives three doors down from a school and I can barely get out of the driveway at 3pm because everyone's mother is picking them up from school. I asked my mom the other day if I was correct in my assesment that "in my day" parents didn't do that nearly as much.

Put it this way, I am not an old man. I am 30. Are we in more danger these days or is it nostalgia that kicks in assuming our generation was more trusting. I think it was a more trusting world, but am I wrong? I've seen pictures outside of a grocery store in the 1950s where all you see are baby carriages - with babies in them - waiting while the mothers shop inside. Was life that different back then? Was life that different 20-25 years ago when I was a young boy? Or am I right that we aren't as safe or are seemingly more paranoid today?

There is far more paranoia today compared to the older decades. (70's, 80's, etc.) With the advent of Television, I think people are more obsessed with their safety. No surprise considering people in the older days weren't bombarded with morbid news, I.E. murders, abductions, and so on. You also have to take into mind that the media has far more power today than they did in the past. It gives them all the more ability to spread hysteria.

No doubt we are much safer now with better security systems and the whole stranger danger idea.

No doubt we are much safer now with better security systems and the whole stranger danger idea.

Agreed.

We have learned as a society. Most of the huge crimes that happened in the 70s and 80s are easy to avoid these days. How many hitchhiker problems do you hear about nowadays? Plus, forensics and security systems are much much better now, so crime is easier to solve in some ways.

Agreed.

We have learned as a society. Most of the huge crimes that happened in the 70s and 80s are easy to avoid these days. How many hitchhiker problems do you hear about nowadays? Plus, forensics and security systems are much much better now, so crime is easier to solve in some ways.

But that's the thing, is the hitchiker thing just a product of our paranoid society? In our minds, it was much safer to hitchike or pick up a hitchiker in the 1960s than it is in 2010. The question is, are we correct? Is is more dangerous today than yesteryear? Or is it all in our heads? Or do we just not even let it happen (ie: drive by a person who actually DID need help)

Eh, I would never take the risk. Even though it's hopelessly cliche, I would only pick up someone who looked absolutely harmless. But, in this day and age, a cell phone will help out anyone, and most everyone has one nowadays.

It's a better thinking society, though. You have to admit, the murders committed today are nothing like what was going on in the 80s.

Eh, I would never take the risk. Even though it's hopelessly cliche, I would only pick up someone who looked absolutely harmless. But, in this day and age, a cell phone will help out anyone, and most everyone has one nowadays.

It's a better thinking society, though. You have to admit, the murders committed today are nothing like what was going on in the 80s.

Yeah...I'd never pick up one too and let's be honest, if you did pick up the wrong hitchhiker, a cell phone isn't going to help you. Once you're stabbed or shot, no cellphone in the world is gonna help you. Even with cell phones it's not worth the risk.

it's true. I've written before that the 1980s (and '60s and '70s) were like the prime time of murders, strange disappearances, and creepy killers in this country. Almost a black age of horror.

There are a number of differing thoughts on this.

Are we safer?:

1) People know more about serial killers,random predators,etc than they did before.

2) The prevalence of cell phones and other communication devices makes staying in contact and calling for help easier.

3) The Internet means ideas,concepts and warnings that used to take months or years to spread now can be around the world in minutes or hours.

4) Behaviors that were taboo to discuss in the past are now common sources of conversation such as incest, child molestation, homosexuality,etc. This makes it likely that if people need to discuss them, there can be mature and intelligent conversations about them.

5) Law enforcement is leaps and bounds better than it was in the past. Most police officers are now trained professionals, there are more women and minority officers and the levels of corruption seen in the past are at far lower levels than they were.

Better police = A safer public.

And not safer:

1) People still take numerous unnecessary risks including using/buying drugs from strangers, meeting w/ strangers and having random sexual encounters, using unknown parties for babysitting,home repairs,etc.

2) Cell phones, while being useful tools are also often dangerous distractions. I've seen people walk into traffic texting or talking on their phone. This level of distraction would certainly aid a criminal looking for a victim.

3) The Internet that makes things more available is also poorly understood by most. In fact, I'm surprised that there hasn't been an Internet killer that solely exists in cyberspace yet. Or maybe there is one..and no one has discovered him/her yet.

4) Even though people will now discuss formerly taboo subjects, they still won't "deal" with them. If a loved one went missing, it's likely that police will be lied to several times as the loved one doesn't want their loved ones "secrets" to be revealed.

5) While LE are trained better, the same attitudes and levels of effectiveness are still tolerated in many departments. A number of departments employ people as police officers that should not have that job. As a result, criminals routinely "slip through the cracks", crimes against "unpleasant victims" often go unheeded and unsolved and the police still have a poor relationship w/ minority communities around the country.

IMHO, while in some areas safety has improved, overall things are only slightly better than they were in the past.

I'm a 5 foot tall female, and I don't feel safe in a lot of different situations...

I always felt safe in most parts of California. I now live in Albuquerque and consider it much safer than Greater Los Angeles, where I was raised. I will go for a walk around my neighborhood at night (something I never did in my home town), but only briefly, and hardly more than a few times per year.

I will use an ATM after dark, but only a drive up one. I pull up super close to the machine, so I don't have to open my door. I'm prepared smash my foot on the gas and get the hell out of there in an instant if necessary.

I do go out at night sometimes, but I always have reservations about doing so. I try to park as close to the buildings entrance as possible. I rush into where I need to go, and I rush back out to my car, always looking around to see if I notice something or someone strange.

I would never pick up a hitchhiker. Even if it was a woman. I don't know what kind of mental state the person may be in, or if they have a knife or a gun or what.

Back in my husband's younger days when he was in the military, he would sometimes thumb a ride back to the base. He did this several times, until one male driver started making passes at him, and tried to get a little "too friendly". My husband freaked out, started yelling and swearing, and making threats. He demanded the driver stop immediately, and he did. My husband walked the next 3 miles to the base. He never hitchhiked again!

Anyway, people are more aware of the dangers around them. Which I guess you could partially thank the media for. As for this generation being less safe, I kind of think so. That's just me.

Eh, I would never take the risk. Even though it's hopelessly cliche, I would only pick up someone who looked absolutely harmless. But, in this day and age, a cell phone will help out anyone, and most everyone has one nowadays.

It's a better thinking society, though. You have to admit, the murders committed today are nothing like what was going on in the 80s.

How can you be sure they are harmless just by the way they look? People can fool ya.