We recently cancelled our bus service and started driving our kid to school.<p>The location the district chose for the bus stop was obnoxious - right on a busy street away from all of the houses. Despite some completely sensible options nearby (that the bus drives by), the district refuses to negotiate.<p>I completely agree that our kids would be just as well off if they were as independent as kids in Japan. But the article hits the nail on the head - between the fast cars everywhere and our country's non-stop addiction to doomeristic crime news, we can't realistically expect to leave our kid out there and not expect disaster or someone to call the cops on us.<p>I actually tried riding a tandem bike to school every day to pick him up, until I get hit by a car one day and decided it was too dangerous to proceed.<p>So the only option really is to sit there and wait in the cold with my child for the bus. Which takes longer than just driving to the school and back.