New data suggests nearly half of women in the UK feel unsafe on the street during the winter months – around one third of women change their route over safety fears
Almost half of women feel unsafe on the UK streets in the winter with more than a third changing their route to avoid walking home in the dark.
Shocking new stats revealed around 44 per cent of women felt uneasy and threatened while making everyday journeys like commuting to work when it is darker. A fifth of men said they felt unsafe.
New research by Mitie – the country’s biggest security firm – found that people spend on average £100 extra per month on taxis, trains and buses to avoid the winter walk home. More than 70 per cent said more must be done to improve safer streets while one in five said employers should take greater responsibility for workers’ safety outside of work.
It comes as personal safety app WalkSafe – whose downloads soared in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder in March 2021 – has teamed up with security provider Mitie to make an enhanced version of the software for employers to provide to their workers to help keep them safe on the commute.
Worried employees, who feel uneasy in the dark, will be able to press a button on the app, which already has more than one million users, which will connect them to trained round-the-clock responders, who will give them expert advice, advise them of safe spaces and notify emergency services.
Londoner Emma Kay, Founder of WalkSafe, who revealed her app sees an 81 per cent increase in downloads during the winter, said: “I started WalkSafe to empower people to take precautionary measures to protect their own safety, something I feel strongly about after experiencing harassment in the street. With Mitie, we will take WalkSafe one step further with the support of their connected control centre”…
“With app users surging since the clocks changed, we want to do everything we can to ensure people can get home safely in the dark. With this new partnership, we hope to revolutionise the way that employers can take care of their colleagues, ultimately making them safer.”
Jason Towse, Managing Director, Business Services, Mitie, who provide security for the Houses of Parliament, said: “Our friends, families and colleagues should all be able to travel safely, whether on transport networks or simply walking home, yet violence against women and girls and minority groups is increasingly prevalent across the UK.
“A fifth of the UK’s workforce expect their employer to help get them to and from work safely and we want to help organisations protect their people. In developing this support in partnership with WalkSafe, we want to help tackle this epidemic and enable safer communities where we can all live and work.”
In the last five years, violence against women and girls has increased on an ‘epidemic scale’ with the The National Police Chief’s Council seeing a 37 per cent in five years. In the new poll – conducted by Opinium of 2,000 men and women – 51 per cent of women cited being followed by a stranger at the top of their list of fears, with more than a third worried of the threat of sexual assault.
In contrast, just under a fifth – 17 per cent – of men feared being followed by a stranger and less than one in twenty – four per cent – listed sexual assault as a concern. The most common changes made by women in darker months are walking a different route – 34 per cent, taking a taxi or public transport – 28 per cent – and driving a short distance to avoid walking – 24 per cent, with people spending on average an extra £100 extra a month.
More than double the number of women – 15 per cent – are prepared to miss social events to avoid walking in the dark compared to their male counterparts – just seven per cent. It meant seven in ten – 71 per cent – people called for more to be done to improve safety on the streets.
Two thirds believe that the government and local authorities should do more to protect people while 19 per cent think employers could do more to improve safety for their colleagues. This figure rises to over a third – 36 per cent – for people who leave the house or return home in darkness.
With the Workers’ Protection Act introduced in October, organisations are looking for extra ways to prevent harassment and create safer environments. The WalkSafe app – founded in 2020 – is a free personal safety app providing vital information to users on a handy interactive map to make them feel safer when out.
Clear icons for different safe space types make the app easy to use and navigate, alongside other useful features such as journey plotting and crime zone information. Police and councils provide data to the app to help people find their way home, or simply go for a walk and feel safe. The app, which now has had more than one million downloads and is in 35 cities and towns across the world, saw downloads soar from 2,000 to 300,000 in the week after Sarah Everard was brutally murdered on her way home in Clapham, south London in March 2021.
The partnership with Mitie develop enhanced services for the WalkSafe Pro version of the app which organisations can provide to their colleagues.
