[ghaff]

You seriously think that walking or taking public transit in the US feels dangerous in 2024? It may have felt a bit different in the 1980s but, even then, most major cities were not in general hellholes even if some locations were sketchy.

[unshavedyak]

Around where I live there’s a lot of addicts and homeless who use that as primary transport. I don’t want to generalize of course, but the camps here are frequent spots in the paper for bizarre murders and violence. It doesn’t feel safe being around unknown variables like that, for me at least.

[ghaff]

Any large city, there are (large) areas I feel pretty comfortable in, especially not in the middle of the night. And there are areas I generally avoid including in cities that I otherwise consider "safe."

I do think you need to be aware of the environment generally and, while there is always some risk (anywhere), you can alleviate a lot of it.

I'm very familiar with a large northeast metropolitan complex and there are places/times I wouldn't go but lots of places/times I would.

[minwcnt5]

People sure are reading a lot into my comment that I feel "more vulnerable" on the sidewalk than in a Waymo. That doesn't mean I think walking is dangerous. (It can definitely be unpleasant in some locations though, for a variety of reasons.)

[askl]

I don't know, I was just answering in behalf of the parent comment

[nunez]

hell yes it is if you're a woman and/or have anything valuable on your person

[ghaff]

I guess I question why anyone would live somewhere, unless that really had no economic choice, where they felt so unsafe. I sure wouldn't and don't.

ADDED: Probably unfair. Some are willing to tradeoff safety for culture etc. so long as they can essentially buy their way out of some of the potentially uncomfortable urban aspects (which is presumably what's being discussed here). This is a perfectly understandable attitude--as it probably was in NYC in the 80s or so.

[unshavedyak]

It's also highly variable. There are lots of nearby areas that feel unsafe, and the people in those areas that make me question safety ride the busses more. Do i feel unsafe in my home? No, but i don't have a lot of addicts mulling around my house or i'd move (like you said).

Then of course there's differences in opinion on actual risk. I don't generally feel comfortable around variables i don't understand. I grew up around addicts and found them to be very unpredictable, and so my reaction may be biased. Nonetheless it's true for me personally.

edit: Conversely though, i think humans have a tendency to get used to nearly anything. We then can downplay the risks of things we've become accustomed to. Even if the risk of violence is low, risk of general unpleasant interactions would be enough to make me avoid the bus/etc.

[ghaff]

A lot is familiarity.

I was in Detroit for an event a couple years ago. A number of us didn't really feel safe after dark and there were a couple incidents that other attendees experienced. Part of it was the general reputation but we also just didn't really know.

Whereas I'll walk down 5th avenue in Manhattan at two in the morning with no real concerns though I'm being more alert than if it were noon.

As you say, it also wouldn't take many bus/subway incidents to make me go: "That's a nope from now on."

[s1artibartfast]

You would live there if you can effectively shield yourself from the safety risks, by doing things like avoiding mass transit and bad neighborhoods.

Also, because you may have family and ties to the area.

[seanmcdirmid]

Uhm, I've seen videos about how NYC was in the 1970s? I'm sure SF was similar. It was pretty rough back then, the 80s were slightly better, and then things got pretty good past the 90s, and now they are getting bad again.

[ghaff]

I lived in Manhattan a summer in the 80s. Went to school in Cambridge in the 70s. There were definitely areas one avoided and cities were losing population.

Relatively recently (maybe 5 years ago), a work colleague got an AirBnB "bargain" on a house in the Roxbury area of Boston for a group of people for a conference and told me there was a shooting down the street. I was, like, IDIOT, you might have asked a local why it might have been such a bargain. (To be clear I'm not sure how objectively dangerous it was but I wouldn't have been staying there and walking at night.)

Not sure most of Manhattan was unsafe generally but you were certainly careful. Not sure that accidentally taking the express subway up to 125th street was actually a guarantee to walking out to a hail of bullets but you were definitely careful to a degree you probably aren't today. I never a foot in Brooklyn until much later. And I remember a somewhat scary drive from LaGuardia to the Port Authority late at night along 42nd Street because of some confusion around schedules.