Many women feel unsafe at night

According to a report by the Office for National Statistics, nearly half of all women feel unsafe using public transport at night. The same figure for men is less than 20%.

The survey was part of a wider investigation about perceptions of personal safety and experiences of harassment. Nearly a third of all adults feel ‘very or fairly’ unsafe using public transport on their own after dark. Nearly 10% feel unsafe using it at any time.

The survey also looked at how public perceptions of safety have changed over the last year. More people had stopped walking in quiet places after dark with 63% saying they didn’t feel safe. Just over 11% of people said they felt unsafe in quiet places like parks even during the day.

Some 27% of women and 16% of men said that they had experienced some form of harassment in the past year including being insulted or shouted at by a stranger in public.