[Closed] Do you feel unsafe on "the streets "

No. Never have done.

Only when those pesky cyclists ride past.

Nope, people are flesh and bone just like me....which means they can be hurt just like me.

I find that has always served me well.

I live in rural Norfolk, I am the scariest thing on the streets. My greatest fear is being run over by a John Deer.
I lived in London and walked and cycled everywhere, I lived on a 'rough' estate and the people were amazing, there were gangs tht looked intimidating, but when you spoke to them and engaged with them, they were always alright. I was cautious, but never scared.

Only when I see cars.

If you feel unsafe, just carry a rolled up copy of the daily Mail. Th

You will be protected by righteousness and will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

Depends. If I'm wearing my weekend fishnets and leaning into a passenger window to give directions, I sometimes feel vulnerable.

Nope and I get into some interesting places with work.

Despite the fear industry's best efforts, nope. Weird that we talk about "terrorists" so much but the people doing most to spread fear are so acceptable eh.

Hey Drac, you the guy that was "lost", in an ambulance? Kisses 🙂

Nope never, even though yesterday a neanderthal walked into our local tesco and attacked someone with a machete for being a bit Asian 😥 was shouting 'white power'. I'm ashamed to live here at the moment.

i am with deviant on this.....so no i am not scared on the streets.

car drivers worry me tho. people turn fubar once behind the wheel.

No but there are some areas where I am much more alert than others

Surely people holding up pencils has stopped terrorism?

Hahaha! Not me Bear, no,

What JY said...there are certain parts of the city where I wouldn't go out of choice to be honest. In my own neighbourhood, or town centre, not at all. Though I'm probably more likely to be a victim of random violence in the city on a Friday or Saturday night than I'd be in the other areas about which I'm thinking.

Nope. But then, I rarely go places after dark where my safety could be compromised, and even during daylight there's little likelihood I'm going to be somewhere risky.

nope.....as above more alert in some places than others but

grew up in the 70's with IRA bombings, punks, mods and rockers revivalist, football hooligans and NF expressing their knuckles
80's similar random world of expressions of violence including the Police, rioters and social unrest, right wing thuggery towards those who were 'different', muggings by some serious folk
90's slightly quieter more silliness 'madchester' then the Zoo/Nuts manifestations...geezers.....
2000, binge drinking lager louts and lary nights, generally calmer world but getting older now.....

So personally feel okay on the streets,

Only place I have ever felt unsafe was 8pm down by Hillfields end of Stoney Stanton Road Coventry, I was riding home, saw the two nerdowells looking up and down the road as I approached, absolutely no one on the street and no cars whatsoever....... At which point as I get close they run across the road towards me.......adrenaline kicked in and I stomped on the pedals as hard as I could on the basis if they were going to fetch me off I was going to seriously hurt one of them in the impact....a part swerve head down bashed against one of their arms and I didn't look back........that put paid to any more commutes through that part of coventry late at night as I was riding later than that too.
I've been on really rough estates all over the country and consider myself pretty good at being able to look after myself but with age comes the doubt of common sense and I'm always preaching at people not to make themselves into victims.

From the brief bit i saw i
believe it was all based on gangs/knifecrime.
As someone said up there i feel more uneasy going to the pub some nights what with some of the let's just have a ruck mobs, that are out.

Birmingham's a bit of a no go area I saw on the news, wouldn't go there, besides they talk funny.

I find my rural hometown scarier than most cities, as everyone just seems to get drunk and batter the shit out of each other on a night out.

Nope, people are flesh and bone just like me....which means they can be hurt just like me.

I find that has always served me well

[img] [/img]

Interesting one this. Me and the Mrs moved from London (shootin' Tooting) to Sydney. By comparison, Sydney is Dysneyland - people leave their bags on the beach while they surf, you see very nice bikes locked-up with a $5 cable lock for hours in the central city etc etc. HOWEVER, talk to any Australian and Sydney is worse than downtown Caracas - you can't leave your house without being mugged, stabbed or beaten.

Our conclusion is - unless you have some other broader perspective, wherever you live, the media has convinced you that it's unsafe, going to hell-in-a-handcart, and that you should be terrified.

Edit: Apart from Tooting. Obviously Tooting is a sh*t-hole.

Yes, very safe.

You can blind a person in one eye yet only get 5 years prison term yet being fed and house during the 5 year period.

I would rather request the other person to have eye transplant to replace the damage they done.

🙄

No, but then I do live in Didsbury.

I live in Dunblane. We don't do crime here, dahlings.

I wasn't scared until I realised that I'm one of bearneccesities punters
😳

😯

No. Never.

Here no, I live in the mountains, scariest thing is the really busy road opposite the house.

Last job, in ULaanbaatar, I was cautious on the streets, only place I've ever been where staff were assaulted in the day time for being foreign.

I was threatened by a large drunken man with my daughter in the buggy, outside a shopping centre.

Never went out to clubs there, staff that did, until they go their street sense a bit better tuned in were getting mugged, robbed and beaten up.
Saying that their lack of common sense at time, while pissed, was shocking.

I had one member of staff, who was robbed several weekends in a row, and on the final one, he tried to go home in a gypsey cab, and was dumped about 25km from the accommodation, in -25 with no shoes and jacket - fortunately there was a lone shop that was there otherwise he was ****ed.

He'll yeah, don't step out onto the mean streets of Ilkley unless I'm kitted up dude

Some light entertainment from The Streets to lighten the mood.

Quality

Harwood in Bolton. The most scary thing about it is having a trolley thrust into your nether regions by some psychotic school run mum. Other than that it's peaceful, friendly and the majority have jobs or are retired.

Even Darwen I lived in for two years was safe enough, just the odd alcohol induced gobshite.

Last job, in ULaanbaatar, I was cautious on the streets, only place I've ever been where staff were assaulted in the day time for being foreign.

Twinned with Leeds, apparently.

I live in Dunblane. We don't do crime here, dahlings.

When I was at school I expect we [i]were[/i] the crime. Not that you couldn't see us coming...

Nope, normally feel pretty safe, despite having lived in, and now having to visit (for work) a few pretty grim places.

However I generally avoid putting myself in potentially hostile situations, especially in unfamiliar towns.

I felt pretty scared in downtown Sarajevo when I visited back in 2001, but that was because everyone had guns, and were all paranoid.

I've not yet found a part of Newcastle where I've felt intimidated in but there were definitely bits of Leeds which I didn't like to walk through at night.

Living and working and London and using public transport yes there have been a few times when I have felt unsafe due to terrorist threats. During the gulf war I was in Riyhad a few times which was very spooky, metal detectors and armed police everywhere, we where given security briefings. I have had a number of business trips cancelled by company security.

I live in Dunblane. We don't do crime here, dahlings.

Well there was that one time.

at band camp?

lemonysam - Member
I've not yet found a part of Newcastle where I've felt intimidated in but there were definitely bits of Leeds which I didn't like to walk through at night.

Bits of potterybank, cowgate and the westend weren't the nicest places to be 10 years ago. Improved a lot now though, or knocked down.

Meadowell was an interesting place in the early to mid nighties.

Still is, just sanitised a bit these days.

Do you feel unsafe on "the streets "

No. Never. Having said that, I have hung out in downtown parts of US cities after dark, when advised not to, and never felt unsafe there either, so maybe I just take things as they come, rather than hanging on to preconceived notions.

I've been to most places in the UK and never felt anything other than safe as houses. Never even thought about it to be honest.

There used to be this woman that lived up the road from us. In her 30s, alone with 6 cats (seriously) who was very timid and needy. Our road is P shaped and in the middle of the P is some grass and trees with enough space for kids to play. So they do. She used to call the police if a football came her way or if there was noise after dark. The kids would scarper and come back later. There was this lad, early 20s I guess, who was the devil incarnate, apparently, violence, drugs, the lot. We used to pass the time of day with him, say Hi, have a laugh. He was fine. Just like the rough looking chaps with the battered transit pick up, who kindly removed some scrap metal for us. (They drove past and asked)
To her out road was like the Bronx or Belfast in the 70s. In actual fact it's a fairly quiet residential cul de sac, with a mixture of nationalities and people in general. It's fine. There are no problems. I find talking to people and being nice helps though. 🙂

No but 3 tours of bosnia altered my perspective of safe

Still is, just sanitised a bit these days.

Post riots it wasn't a great place to venture, been there loads on my own the last few years and felt Ok being there.

Drac - Moderator
I live in Dunblane. We don't do crime here, dahlings.
Well there was that one time.

footflaps - Member
at band camp?

When I was 12/13 years old back in the mid 80s me and a couple of mates would catch the bus into the city center and amongst other things, a favourite activity would be to hang out with the down and outs in a run down church yard.. The primary motivation was that they were generous with booze and tobacco, and were always willing to trade for a go on our lighter gas, or stuff we'd nick from the supermarket around the corner..

We stayed out the night on a couple of occasions, huddled up with a dozen stinky toothless tramps under a bush, the glow of cheap whisky keeping us warm and cheery..

I've had a couple of phases in my life where I've been wary of drunken youths, but those phases have always occurred during the periods following severe physical assaults

Not now I know Britain First are doing Christian patrols! 😉

Only if I visit Harlesden.

It depends a bit on where you are and who you are. If you're in a small town and you're young then yes - late teens/early 20s in a small northern town yes - the streets can be very confrontational. Same age in inner city birmingham - no. The fact that there are some seriously dangerous nutters about means some lippy little **** isn't going to hassle you if they don't know your face - just incase you are that nutter.

But get a bit older and people just don't bother you anywhere.

Not were I grew up as I was a lippy kid in a group who people avoided. Not here in Chester were I live now. I didn't feel safe in some parts of London were I lived. I've boxed for years and that's taught me to walk away as some nutter could be carrying a knife or something. I'd hate to think an elderly relative was living in fear.

Remember being on my own at the old Downtown Miami Bus terminal, got dropped off at stupid O'clock to wait for a greyhound bus, it was 3am, so. I sat huddled against a wall and watched:

1. Two geckos running around under a flickering light on the wall of the (empty) Security cabin
2. A begrimed pile of rags with a shopping trolley, just stopped in front, standing there twisted towards me, couldn't tell if was looking at me or not
3. Bunch of Nikes hanging by laces from the overhead cables
4. A large gang of 3:15am-in-da-hoodies noisily heading my way after seemingly being loudly ejected from a ramshackle building on the corner.

I never sat so still or sucked on a rollie so hard before or since. Oooh, a bus, a bus!!!

Is it unsafe on the streets ? Not at all according to a friend from South Africa who I know. She laughs at our moaning attitude. Try living in Joburg she says. You never ever stop at a red light, well unless you want to be shot for 10 rand. She also had a gun put her head at a cash machine. To top It all off her house was robbed one night. After taking a note of what was stolen she phoned the police. After the police came round to take statements she looked around the house and realised even more was missing 😯

As hard as I try to feel safe, I don't think you can control things around you - this causes anxiety. I often have to confront people where I live (we live in boarding) school which is very quiet in the holidays and the locals like to come and take stuff. That frustrates me, that no one seems to be bothered. And I feel it's only time before they discover my bikes.

So yes and no. I feel generally anxious that at some point stuff goes a bit pearshape in ones life - the unpredictable.

Having said all that it never stops me doing anything.

No.

^ where is the school Rone? You work there?

Yes even though I've been beaten up once by a gang for no reason and had a gun put against my head for no apparent reason. Some areas are very dodgy and I take caution but its also nice to remember we live in Europe and compared to huge parts of the world we are very safe and secure. If you watch jezzer or read the Mail you deserve your paranoia. Not speaking to people like they are ****s or that your are better than them through luck of birth or ambition helps you along greatly in daily life. But this is stw of course.

Oops that first word was ment to be no.

Used to find London sketchy when I was young 14 - 16 - same with Birmingham - If one is super drunk staggering to a hotel or taxi then you've got to watch your back .. South Central /Compton Los Angeles have made me cross the street a couple of times - Hollywood has some bad areas too - turned the motor round in dead end street in Lockwood Hollywood and some Cholo lifted up his vest to show his chromed shooter off - a bit scary ..

Quirrel - Worksop College North Notts.

I don't work there. GF does.

And we move next week anyway. Not that it's a massive issue as we want a bigger house!

Just to add the safest I've ever felt in a city at night is Tokyo. I wouldn't say I feel particularly safe in any UK city at night.

As an additional aside I feel any threat from terrorism (which is crime per se) is hugely overcooked, purely on stats alone.

AFAIR most murders are domestic so it's when you get home that you need to start watching your back.

I live in a shit hole which the local neds are trying to take over and run. I feel perfectly safe as none of them could fight sleep. Being brought up in a rough as hell place and having lots of fights as a kid changes your perspective on neds.