How safe do you generally feel on the streets

[ohgolly24]

Inspired by a thread about XL bullies. My tween has recently started going out to the park alone or with friends. We live fairly rurally and I have all the appropriate measures in place - app on his phone, agreed times to come home etc. He's very responsible, it's not him I worry about, it's the external factors.

It feels like there are so many dangers out there. So many crazy people. So many vehicles on the road. These bloody killing machine dogs roaming around. I know accidents and bad people and general day to day dangers have always existed but we hear so much more about it now it just feels unsafe to walk down the street sometimes.

It's probably also because my dc are growing up and I know I can't be with them to protect them 24/7. It's hard getting to that stage of parenting any letting them out into the big wide world. But genuinely I just feel like there are so many things to be afraid of.

I feel very safe actually. Far more decent people than not.

Completely safe.

I feel safe enough unless I go to the dodgy areas of the town I'm in.

What sickens me is the filth and rubbish everywhere, I'm sure it's getting worse.
And the parking, Christ alive, the drivers these days are fucking utter cunts.... If you park on a path and don't think about wheelchairs and pushchairs, fuck you.

I am in London and feel safe. So do my DC. Except for phone theft.
Maybe we are deluded. Would rather live this way though. DC go everyehere on the Tube and have since their teens.

There are but DD is as likely as I am to end up in a bad situation. So I did what I can to keep her safe and prepared. Things like knowing first aid, being a competitive swimmer growing up and completing pool and beach lifeguard clubs so she's as safe as can reasonably be as we live near the beach and it's a big part of our life.

Her friends are lovely and sensible but she went out with friends over the Halloween weekend so we had a chat about what to do if other people were being unsafe with fireworks either her group or others. She can be naive as they idea of playing with fireworks was pretty alien to her and I'm not sure she believed me that people prat around with them etc.

I did feel safe. Work in a school in Herts nice area.
Came home from airport last night on train and walked the 10 minutes walk home.

So many dodgy things happening and a bad vibe so found myself rushing.
Did not feel good at midnight

They don't report the tens of millions of people who go about their daily lives in complete safety.

Incredibly rare events give a very misleading impression of actual risk.

Stop focusing on the negatives and ‘what ifs’ and relax. There is no point worrying about things that are beyond your control and that you can’t influence.

Pretty safe. We live close to a city centre, and I walk or cycle everywhere, day and night. DS walks to and from school, and meets his friends in the city centre.

Completely safe

I feel fine

You hear about because of the media is all invasive now. If you haven't seen it on theTV it's been pinged into your phone news feed or someone has posted about it on FB or on Mumsnet.
Unless you want to have your child locked in the house you are going to have to give them freedom and trust that what you have taught them will have sunk in.
One exercises common sense. No you don't cut through a dark park on your way home. You don't wear earphones at night. You don't walk along engrossed in your phone.

As I'm in Australia, so my safety isn't relevant to this thread but an observation is.
Events get reported when X goes missing, then again if there's a terrible outcome, then again when the perpetrator is arrested, then again when it goes to trial, then again for sentencing, then again at appeal.

It magnifies the frequency as it were, a heightened sense of danger when the objective facts say it's not.

Having said, that young men are more likely to be attacked outside the home than women, so the OP's concerns are not unfounded.

@mondaytosunday makes excellent points.

Not at all. DD and I live on the edge of a bad estate. It's overrun with idiot teenagers wearing balaclavas. I thought it wasn’t so bad because we were on the outside edge until a couple of months ago when we witnessed two young teenagers jumping over a wall after setting a "summer house" on fire in someone's back garden. The flames were higher than the actual house.
Then the same kids and a gang of others posed for photos in front of the fire engine that came out.
I am so annoyed that she has never been able to "play out" as I did at her age. These kids, teens and much younger terrorise the estate. They put people's front room windows in with bricks at random. The police won't come out. They steal from the local Supermarket and/or trash aisles. This has led to a ban on letting any kids wearing the particular school uniform close by because they're causing it.
Oh course, the parents are up in arms about that on Facebook. They have no control over their kids.
The whole of Wirral is at the mercy (or lack of) balaclava'd kids who the police won't deal with. Liverpool is a whole other issue, because those kids and adults don’t just carry knives but guns too.
It makes me feel like everything's gone to hell in a hand basket. And you don't dare challenge bad behaviour, that makes you and your home an instant target.
There's literally no police provision able to deal with this. I’m aware that this issue is widespread throughout the country.

There are a lot of mentally unwell people about. Just walking to work one morning I crossed the road three times to avoid various dodgy men. I try to teach my 9 year old about being aware of weird vibes and to be aware of her surroundings. I live rurally so this is in a small country city (no high rises etc). Her senses are getting more tuned in. She knows if someone is odd. Convincing her that not all strange dogs are adorable is harder.

I am in London and used to feel completely safe. Now I still feel reasonably safe but I feel like I have to be a lot more alert now. Main issue for me is quite a lot of people around who seem to have MH/substance abuse issues. The other big thing is lots of criminals in my area roaming around on bikes, electric bikes and electric scooters - they come up behind behind people, often on the footpath. This is becoming ridiculously common.

When I first met late dp we lived in an area that was dog rough but I never felt scared about going out alone at night, we had a 24 hour shop 5 minutes walk away & I've been there in the middle of the night & felt safe. Where I live now is an estate where there are few problems, but the minute it goes dark the door is locked & I don't open it for anyone.

I guess it depends where you live. We live in a pretty safe area, although the main road through the area is like bloody Brands Hatch. When DS1 was a pre teen he started going out by himself in the local area and my anxiety was sky high, even though I knew rationally that everything would be fine. I think that once he had come home safely a number of times, I started to relax! A few other firsts, like going into the city centre by himself etc or trips out on the train, ramped my worry up again temporarily. He's 16 now and I still like him to check in with me when he's out and about. If he's out late, he lets me know he's on the bus home or if he changes his plans, he sends me a quick text so I know what's happening. He is also quite friendly with the local self styled 'hard nut' (who is in fact a nice kid underneath all the bravado) and always jokes that as long as this boy is around, nothing bad will happen to him😆

I feel fairly safe around.

Half the problem is social media. Previously , we wouldn’t hear what happened in Scarborough or Huddersfield, for example, unless it was reported on the news or in the papers, which you wouldn’t read until the next day. Now, you know almost instantly, from across the country, so it looks like there’s a lot more going on.

These bloody killing machine dogs roaming around.
Sorry, that is a ridiculous statement; most dog attacks take place in the home.
The media only ever report shite and scarmongering stories. They are creating a society where parents don't want their kids to step out the door (and on here, most women are too 'scared' to open their door to anyone they don't know). It's all getting ridiculous
There are no more 'crazy people' (revolting and judgemental term, by the way) out there today than 20 years ago.
Let you child out the house

I feel pretty safe. I'm quite sensible when out...I don't listen to music when walking home at night, keep my phone close to me (got mugged once), avoid what I consider to be dodgy areas especially at night etc.

No different to when my parents let me out growing up, and their parents growing up and so on

Not everyone is good or bad but how many accidents happen at home, no where is safe depending on how you look at it

I have not yet seen an XL bully in London.
There are definitely more homeless and mentally ill. They all appear to be harmless.

The people I tend to avoid are drunk football fans after a game. But I am not afraid to go anywhere within reason ( I won't be hanging around parks or wearing flashy jewellery).

I travel alone in India though( am of Indian origin) so perhaps I am used to it.

I feel quite safe. We live in an average area on the outskirts of the big city. It's not a posh neighbourhood, mostly a combination of old council stock and newbuilds. No large estates around. Plenty of dogs, though. The new development down the road has a nice park with a basketball court where children and teenagers hang out all the time which is nice to see.
I don't remember ever feeling unsafe, even when I lived in hairier parts of London. There is only one estate in SW London where I had to visit someone for work once which felt eerie.

Much less safe than I felt 20-30 years ago. Wouldn't dream of walking home alone late at night/early morning these days. I think London has got much, much worse.