Absurdity

Common sense comes from learning, lived and learned experiences. Children haven't had a chance to learn to be safe yet. I am an advocate for risky play so they can learn natural boundaries, but that risky play must be age appropriate. They should not be facing life long injuries while they learn to navigate the world around and we need regulations in place to reach that goal. Helmet laws, age limits, speed restrictions.

I do agree age based restrictions often do not take into account the different experiences and abilities of children. There are things I let my 10 year old do now that I wouldn't have let me oldest do when they were 10. Age limits do help, but are often set too high without consideration for variance among children. The laws around 12 year olds being left alone for example is with "Reasonable supervision", writing the law vaguely allows wiggle room for parents to assess the needs of their child. Unfortunately with vague laws there are those who take advantage as well. I think a government has a duty of care to its citizens, and those too young to be making all the decisions themselves especially. Not everyone parents the same, which is why we need minimums to ensure a child isn't hurt because of a parents mistake or negligence. I am all for parental freedom, and I myself often clash at rules I feel are unjust, that saying "13+" is an arbitrary limit that exception should be granted with parental consent, that I know my children and they can do more, that the age limit doesn't fit them, it hinders them. Lol won't tell you all the fun we can get up to outside of the city.

At the same time I know these rules protect a lot of other children who may be in different circumstances.

I do think there needs to be a framework though for them to have a safer world to learn in, and speed limits are a big part of that, getting hit at 20 vs 40 or 50 is a big change, and the government should 100% be stepping in to ensure sold products are safe, especially for these scooters designed and sold to children right now. My son currently has a scooter and I know it's limited to 20/25 I believe, but I see other kids on ones that compete with cars. Despite any experiences I think they may be too young to deal with such high speeds and sudden changes, most adults struggle with reflexes at those speeds and don't slow down quick enough.