I should have also included that I think the big difference back then was that just about everyone's mom was at home in those days. At very least there were lots of moms and seniors around and they were keeping in eye out. Also, one neighborhood I lived in had at least 50 kids between the age of 5-16ish that were always outside, so safety in numbers was huge.
I think that was the bigger mistake, it was me and one friend about 7 blocks from home at the beach at the wrong time. Had we been in a larger group it may not have been so severe, but were were both scared poopless and panicked. I tried to ride away from these guys on my bike, but they were too quick and I was too slow to react.
I just happened to be in a remote section of the street where the nearest home was probably 1000 feet away when this all took place. My friend couldn’t hardly remember anything about the vehicle they were in, what they looked like and was guessing about the color of the vehicle. An old chevy suburban some kind of tan or brown and 4 guys.
My brother (7 years my senior) thought he knew who did this to me and had me rolling around in the back seat of his car as he went looking for them almost immediately after this happened to me. Apparently I rode my bike home, went inside, laid on the couch and about 15 minutes later my brother got home. My friend told him what happened, and then we went looking. We never found them. When mom and dad got home about an hour after we returned they realized it was pretty bad (Mom used to be a nurse’s aid, so she knew I had a concussion). That was an expensive ambulance ride...
My Mom had been back to work for about 4 or 5 years when this incident occurred, but several other people’s Mothers stayed home in those days. It’s too bad we didn’t think to call on one of them instead of waiting like we did.
Yes, good observations. The mothers were at home to check on their children and on the neighbors’ children. And neighbors knew each other and helped each other.
Hit the nail on the head. Someone was always watching. Another kid could run and summon help.
When it snowed in our hilly neighborhood, easily 25 kids came out for snowman making, snowball fights and to sled down the streets (and trudge back up).