I think it depends on where you live.

My kids play in the street (ride scooters on the footpath etc with the neighbours kids) they also play in the lane behind our house. My DD has walked to school by herself since was about 10yo. She is 13yo now and goes to the local "village" shops which are just around the corner.

The main difference between my children's "playing in the streets" and my own when i was a child is that they don't play on the road. When i was a child we lived in a dead-end street with very little traffic.

Now we live in a very quite and safe area... it has a very family 'feel' to it. Everyone looks out for everyone else's kids. I know most of my neighbours... the ones with kids have all been over to our house for parties etc at some stage. If we lived in a street where we didn't know our neighbours as well i wouldn't let my kids have the freedoms that they have now. We made a conscious decision to live in a place that is family oriented and safe... it's an expensive area but well worth it for this reason alone.