Not that close ;) It's more to give a much stronger sense of motion when you're driving and trees are swoosh-swooshing past. It makes you feel you go fast, while without you'd speed up.
Streets where kids are likely to pop up on the street usually are woon-erf. Speeds limited to 15kph, ped priority /everywhere/ (i.e. allowed to walk & play anywhere on the street) and a different layout that further inhibits speeding.

This is the reason why we in the Netherlands when lowering speed limits also change the design of the street, to make it more uncomfortable to drive fast. I.e. roads are made less wide, trees are planted closer to the road and in greater numbers etc. This is (supposedly) more effective than speedbumps.