I'm pretty sure nimbyism and health and safety nonsense is caused by advancing technology and a growing population. Ease of living due to technology means people have more time to think about the little things (such as nimbyism) and a growing population means there are more people to do jobs associated with, or to think about, the little things (such as nimbyism). On top of that a high population density imposes possibly the largest restrictions on personal freedoms (i.e you can't have a runway there because... we don't like you/ it's too noisy/ it's bad for my cousins asthmatic dog)
A caveman didn't have time to worry about trip hazards in his cave, but if he wasn't spending all of his time on survival, and had lots of visitors from other caves he might just have invented hazard tape!