Nearly half of women feel unsafe on UK streets in dark during winter time

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Almost half of women in the UK feel unsafe on the street during the winter time with more than two-thirds of people change their route over safety fears, a survey revealed on Friday.

New data suggested that almost half of women (44%) and a fifth of men (21%) feel unsafe when walking in the dark, even when making daily journeys, including commuting to work.

The figures by Mities, a London-based security provider, showed that almost three quarters (69%) of people say they have made changes after clocks turn back to feel safer or avoid walking in the dark.

The most common changes made are walking a different route with 34%, taking a taxi or public transport with 28%, and driving a short distance to avoid walking with 24%.

The survey noted that these changes cost people average an extra £100 ($127) a month.

It comes as Mitie and WalkSafe, a personal safety app, has announced a new partnership designed to support safer communities, particularly for people travelling alone, offering additional personal safety support for their colleagues through a specialist 24/7 contact center.

Citing the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), Mities pointed out an "epidemic scale" of violence against women and girls as police recorded that this type of violence related crime increased by 37% between 2018-2023.

In July, NPCC said in a statement that police leaders are calling for a whole-system approach that brings together criminal justice partners, government bodies and industry, in a new partnership that seeks to reduce the scale and impact of VAWG due to the epidemic scale of offending.

The survey also revealed the differences in threat awareness when walking in the dark differs between men and women as 51% of women cite being followed by a stranger at the top of their list of fears, with awareness of the threat of sexual assault also running high for over a third.

However, only a fifth (17%) of men fear being followed by a stranger and less than one in twenty (4%) list sexual assault as a concern.

Due to the ongoing concern, 71% of people are calling for more to be done to improve safety on the streets and two thirds believe that the government and local authorities can do more to protect people.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged 13,000 extra neighborhood policing officers to make UK streets safer, with every neighborhood in England and Wales will get a named, contactable police officer.

"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," Emma Kay, founder of WalkSafe said.

Jason Towse, managing director of Business Services, Mitie, 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."