The point of the article is that children have less independence now even though cities are statistically safer.

Yet a lot of the comments here suggest that kids would have more independence if cities were safer (particularly from cars).

IMHO, the answer is to improve safety by teaching children how to navigate dangers. Teach children how to cross the road; teach children to be aware of distracted drivers; teach children about situations to avoid (e.g., being in a blind spot).

Waiting for cities to be sanitized theme parks before letting kids out of the house is how we got into this mess.