My Mom was car-free, in the 70s! And she had 3 of us to watch out for, 4 before my brother got smart and took off. (Too little food around the place, easier to make it on his own once he hit about age 15-16.) We generally didn't have a car that ran, in fact I grew up with a real hatred of cars because we were usually even more in the poorhouse than usual because of some damn car that needed this, and needed that, and never ****ing ran.

It's amazing I've had cars as an adult, maybe at a deep level it's to prove I can. But I digress.

We wanted to go to this or that class? Bus. Friend's house? Walk. We walked and bused to stores, friends, school, activities, etc all on our own, it was figured that once a kid was 10 or so, they should not depend on Mommy to get places anyway. Sure, parental support was expected, and was there, if needed but it was just believed that a kid didn't need to be driven around to places they could get to independently, any more than they needed to be carted around in a baby carriage all the time after they could walk.

Much of this is the US "culture of fear" where everyone is afraid Jeffery Dahmer is going to take their kid. The auto/oil companies love it.