"Hanging Out" Teenage Girls/Do you let her walk alone?

What exactly is "hanging out" if you are a teenage girl? It seems that it is meeting the friend and then "walking around" with the friend. Maybe stopping to get a drink at the Wa Wa (like 7 Eleven) or a slice of pizza. The friends stay together, but the hitch is that my daughter wants to walk alone to meet the friend. I do not know about what other parents, but I DO NOT let her walk ALONE anywhere! Evidently, I am being overprotective and she thinks that I am "paranoid" and of course she doesn't think anything will EVER happen to HER. And oh of course, the friend's mom lets HER walk alone to their meeting point ( about 1/2 mile between our 2 homes). So is the risk of my over-protection and her rebellion greater than the risk of her being accosted or abducted during these short walks alone? ....I DON'T CARE! I drive her to the meeting place anyway and she has to bear my presence........and then there is getting home...........