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.

Have to say I would never have guessed this thread would be about dogs when I clicked on it.

A few things:

I do let my child out of the house as I clearly stated in my OP.

There is an active thread at the moment about XL bullies and a poster has cited lots of the reported attacks (there will many more unreported ones) and many have taken place in public. The fact that people who own them are unable to control them but still take them out in public is frightening. Sorry if that makes me a scared little woman but so be it.

I can't think of a better word than crazy to describe some of the sickening events that have happened in society recently. The horrendous Southport stabbings for example.

And yes I know these things are rare. I know we can't hide our kids away inside for fear of what might but probably won't happen. But as a parent of kids who are just finding their independence in the world I do find it worrying.

Statistically women, at least, are far more likely to be attacked in the home than by strangers.
The Southport stabbings were really rare.

I feel pretty safe.

Very safe in the UK

Completely safe.

I literally leave my house without a care in the world, I feel completely safe. I live in London so maybe it’d be different if I was in a rural area I don’t know

Very safe. The dc around me go out alone a lot from fairly young too, next doors dc go to school alone (year 4 no roads)

I had felt safe on the beach path until last week when two Labradors ran away from their owner and charged directly at me snarling and barking furiously.

I had just come up from a swim and was walking home in my dryrobe.

I stood still, folded my arms so my hands were protected and turned my face away. I fully expected to be mauled. At the last moment they veered off.

When the wheezing owner finally scuttled past me (still trying unsuccessfully to recall them) he looked embarrassed and muttered “sorry about that”. I said “it was very scary” to which he replied “they didn’t like what you were wearing”. So my fault apparently. 🤷🏼‍♀️

When I left the beach they were barking at a family with a little dog on a lead.

I’m 56 and have rarely felt unsafe when out and about. I’m a regular runner and sometimes run after dark. I don’t wear headphones when I run and try to stick to well lit areas but that’s so I don’t get run over! I’d be unlikely to run in the woods after dark but more because I’m likely to trip and it would be hard to rescue me.

I’ve always felt it was my “right” to use this world, without restriction. I used to walk home from night clubs. The statistics say that I’m actually far safer out of the home than in it, that actually makes are more likely to be attacked outside the home than women.

No stranger has ever attempted to rape me but plenty of men I knew have! Far safer with a fucking stranger! 🙄

I live in London and feel completely safe as a 30something woman usually walking around by herself.

I think it's far more dangerous to be a young man. My brother has been beaten up by stranger(s) twice - once on a night out and once outside a football stadium (neither incident was in London, but in the UK). I on the other hand have never even come close to being attacked.

With the state of the roads where I live it's only a matter of time before a car or motorcycle comes off the road and seriously hurts someone .

I have a resting bitch face so I have never been bothered on the street . I am also as fast walker and don't make eye contact with anyone . I think making eye contact seems to spark off an interaction .

Haha I'm exactly the same.

Power walk everywhere, headphones always on, the bitchiest resting bitch face imaginable.