Getting Dark

Okay am I being an over protective mom? Last night when I went to pick up my son from a friends house I asked him how did he get there since he was supposed to be at his other friends house that live about a 1 1/2 miles from the one I picked him up at. He tells me that they walked and this was around 5pm when it is getting dark. I was a little upset with him and told him he can't do that but I remember my teen years and I used to walk all over and farther away from home and that was OK. Maybe times are different or are they weren't but people just didn't talk about it back then? I remember once when I was a teen and walking from my old friends house to the Boulevard Theater I think that could have been a mile and it was around 7pm or so and we started shooting are mouths off to some gang of kids and they started chasing us. Nothing happened I think we BS our way out of it when they caught up with us but what would happen if that were to happen now?
Oh an just a little note-Notice the hair it wasn't that big as some of the girls back in the 80's and the arm belongs to a nice guy named Rob