When I was a kid, we used to rid maybe 6 kids in the back of a pickup truck flat bed.
That was normal. It would not only be illegal today, but probably considered very immoral.
Hockey players didn't even wear helmets, not even the goalies (!).
Nobody wore helmets when I grew up skiing, now almost everyone does.
We are considerably safer about everything today.
Likewise, I've never once worn a seatbelt in an NYC taxi.
where i live, because of paucity of transportation means, it is not uncommon to have the back door of a car straight open and 3 kids sit there, dangling their feet. that is considered very normal in these parts of the world.
We have more science, more education. 10% of kids under age 1 would die at the turn of the century (1900), which means, everyone knew a family with a child that had died, and that's traumatic.
Our views of safety and risk have evolved.
My grandfather, he worked in a lumber camp, the stories ... my god.
We also react to it differently now. Even in our language i.e. 'I feel unsafe' or people talk about 'harm' or 'violence' with just language.