• otp@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    Gen X likes to talk about how they’d all get on their bikes and meet up with friends.

    Was it also the Gen X parents who didn’t want their kinds riding on bikes in the streets due to safety issues? Lol

    EDIT: fixed spelling of “Lol” (formerly “Loo”)

    • dermanus@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      No, that started happening more to Millennial kids. The whole Satanic Panic stranger danger didn’t really kick off until the 80s, by then most gen Xers would be driving.

      • otp@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        4 days ago

        Yeah, I was wondering if it was Gen X as the parents who did part of that. I could see some younger millennials having Gen X parents.

  • ch00f@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    What’s crazy is I grew up with this and struggled with it, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized it was such a systemic issue.

    I once had to bike through this:

    I believe there’s a sidewalk on the other side of the underpass, but there isn’t a crosswalk for miles. I just had to wait for a gap in traffic and pray. Speed limit is 45.

    This was me trying to bike to the mall.

    • grue@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      In my city, they deliberately designed underpasses with minimal space like that not only to save money, but also because they were at the border between white and black neighborhoods and making it harder for carless people to get through helped enforce segregation. And even now, when they put bike lanes in, they end at such historical barriers because it’s “too expensive” to widen them and taking space from cars is out of the question. In other words, they’re still perpetuating the harm of segregation to this day.