AIBU To be excessively worried about DD’s safety as she leaves for university?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy51kv7zq0vo

According to UK police tracking data, Birmingham ranks first out of 99 cities in England and Wales for the rate of "possession of weapons" offenses, sitting at over 300% of the national average.

I live in Birmingham and work in the city centre. Your DD will be fine, so long as she does obviously sensible things like sticking with friends and not wandering off by herself into the night completely rat arsed. It’s no better or worse than any big city.

Set up the Uber app on her phone, linked to your credit card and she’ll be able to get a safe taxi in any part of the city, at any time day or night, regardless of how much money she has.

I expect it will be a big change for her, but hopefully a great adventure. You’ll probably worry wherever she went and us Brunmies are by and large friendly sorts - she’ll be grand.

Also, I spent five days in Naples eight years or so ago, and I’d had enough after a couple of days. There were some amazing Roman sites but the place was absolutely filthy - dog poo, rubbish and graffiti everywhere - you spent a lot of time trying to not be run over by mopeds, people were not polite and the place generally had a bit of a dodgy air. I’d expected to really like it, but it was unsettling.

She doesn't have to apply for jobs outside the city. Lots of areas of birmingham are safe to walk around early evening regardless of whether it is dark. And there are trains into new street from most areas that run very regularly.

The advantage of linking it to your account is that she can always get an uber even if money is an issue- we put our 2 on the account even before they went to uni.

I lived in Birmingham in the 80’s and loved it- I still work there and walk through the city centre, I don’t feel afraid at all.

Every single one of us had rape alarms at uni. That was over 20 years ago. Never used it.

well as 1 in 4 women get sexually assaulted in their lifetime OP is right to be thinking about safety.

Fair. Having my DC connected to mine means in an emergency he can always get a cab at my expense.

Everything you have written is absolute nonsense

It doesn't.

Your niece needs some help for her anxiety if she genuinely won’t go out after dark. People live in far more dangerous spots than Birmingham (hell, I did as a young woman - central London has a higher crime rate than what you mention) and manage to venture out after sundown. The vast majority of those crimes will be people known to each other, if you’re sensible and take the precautions you’d take anywhere you’ll be fine. I find it really sad to think of a young person hiding at home.

Bollocks. Obviously some parts of brum are rough but the area around the uni is not and is adjacent to some of the nicest areas in Birmingham. City Centre is fine too.

It's by Aston university then. Fine in the day time and there are a lot of people around early evening too. Later at night walk with friends or use ubers.

I live in Birmingham and work near Bournville. I feel much safer here than I have in London, Manchester or Leeds.

Bournville and surrounding areas are very safe. Brum centre is like any big city in any country - don’t walk around pissed by yourself after dark.

I’ve never felt unsafe in an uber here. If it’s late and I’ve been drinking i do the uber ride share with DH so he can see where I am.

Just tell her not to go out on Broad Street, it’s a horrible shit hole. Tell her to get her mates and bus out to Kings Heath or Stirchley for nights out. They’re much better, nicer and safer, and have better music and cheaper beer.

She’ll be ok OP. We are in a big city and you get used to it. Can you add her to your Uber account and encourage her to not walk alone at night.

How you feel doesn't necessarily reflect reality though. It depends where you walked. Some areas of Birmingham are much safer than some areas of manchester.

I doubt that students go out a lot in the city centre tbh. It's probably more lively in the student areas.

UoB campus is very nice, has great public transport and mostly academics hang out there.
The university in City centre is in a very busy area so I would also be concerned.
Any Uni can be daunting, it's very hard to fully prepare your child.im sure you will advise her to be alert and stay with a group when it's dark etc

She's been applying for jobs outside of the city for ages, just nothing has come up as a result. She's trying! And yes, she's in a bad area.

Although I did read elsewhere in the thread that OP's daughter will be living in Bournville which is lovely and not dangerous to my knowledge. I was under the impression she was talking about central.

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She'll be fine, try not to pass on your fear into her. She's about to have a fantastic experience, let her enjoy it.

Where did you live in Birmingham? It certainly isn't extremely dangerous in the student areas or in many other areas. Stabbings can happen anywhere unfortunately.