This was back in 1975 when you thought dropping your kids off at school meant leaving them at a safe place. It was a different mentality. These are the kind of events that changed that. I would never just drop my child of in this day and age.
Actually, here in Toronto it’s still safe for kids to get around on their own in most neighbourhoods. By the time I was six (1969), if I needed to get somewhere on public transit then my parents would take me the first time, I’d take them the second time, then the third time I was on my own.