I can’t speak for all walkers, but our oldest son learned responsibility from walking to school. Even when he was 7, he was the one who made sure that his older/younger siblings were doing what was right during their trek to school. (this is not to say he didn’t do stupid things when he wasn’t on that walk! when it was play time, he did do some questionable things involving the road, but I digress . . .) When our second son was suddenly the only walker to the school down the street, he also became responsible though not in the same way. He was 6 and had been walking to school with siblings for 1 3/4 years, and he continued to walk to school each day, making sure that he was on time and prepared for school. He continued to be responsible for himself each year after that. I can’t say that he did a very good job taking care of his younger sister the next year. The crossing guard occasionally let me know when he tormented his sister on the way to school. Son learned that there were people watching him even if was unaware.
I saw very little risk in our children walking to school or to the bus stop. (the middle school/high school bus stop) I miss living in a neighborhood like our old one. We have lived in places where I would not let the children play outside unattended.
With today's mobility and anonymity, not to mention wholsesale importation of cultural values inimical to our traditional ones, I'm not sure that any place, other than a well-run gated community, is safe to let your children outside of adult observation.
Given that, in my first neighborhood, the friendly guy who would give horse rides and let the kids use his pool turned into a sex offender, I am not gambling with my children's lives or innocence. I will just have to come up with some other method to teach self-sufficiency than letting my kids do a walkabout.