At what age did/do you let your DCs play out on the street?

[narna]

Round here they are often out as young as 3 or 4 ,unsupervised for hours on end.
I freely admit to being overprotective,DD age 4 was very ill when born and still has some SNs so just wondered what everyone else thinks is ok?

We live on a very quiet road, with hardly any traffic, and houses have families with children.
I let my dd from 4.7. She has to stay where I can see her and tell me if she goes into anyones house (we all know each other pretty well). I am fine with it now, but i worried about it to start, but her friends were out, so i felt mean not letting her go.
All the kids around here are about the same age (4-10) so it is quite nice seeing them going up and down the road on their bikes and skateboards and putting on shows together.

ds is 3 and no way would i let him out, even with the others.
I think near to 5 is about right for us. but it depends on the child and the area i think

Dd1 was 3 and half, but a very streetwise, mature 3 and a half year old. She was only allowed to play in front of our house and I checked on her every 5-10 mins. Plus we lived opposite a busy garage, so there was always someone who could see her. The garage staff seemed to like her.

Dd2 is now 3, but much less mature and has no sense of danger, at all. She won't be allowed to play out for a long while yet.

It very much depends on the child and their individual capabilities, imo.

We live on a fairly main road which is also a bus route, so no children play out in the street on our road. However, there are quite a few cul de sacs in our area where children do play out. My DS is 9 and quite sensible by the standards of most 9-year old boys. He is now allowed to cross nearby roads on his own and I feel reasonably relaxed about him playing out if he goes to see a friend who lives on a quieter road. However, I would say I have only felt like that since my DS turned 9. My DD is 7 and I would not yet feel comfortable about letting her play out in the street, even on a cul de sac. I just think that if she was excited she simply wouldn't notice a car coming. Letting 3 and 4 year olds play out "unsupervised for hours on end" is just plain wrong in IMO.