Here are some tips to ensure you stay safe while exercising or heading out for a walk in the early mornings or late evenings.
Environment:
• Plan to run or walk a route that you are familiar with.
• Ensure the route has street or building lighting that is active in the mornings or at night to ensure you are visible and to allow yourself to have good visibility of what is happening around you
• Identify a safe place on the route (dairy, cafe or business open early in the mornings or a service station, takeaways, dairy open at night)
• These are the places you can go and seek haven if you feel unsafe or at harm
• Ensure you follow the same route
• Advise family, flatmates or friends of that regular route
What’s happening around me:
• Use your own Instincts – If you feel uneasy or if you feel something is not right
• Stop running or walking briefly and pretend to stretch or to readjust footwear etc
• Look around you, taking notice of where you are and what’s around you
• If you feel someone is behind you don’t deviate from your route – You will know your route and the location of a safe place that you know of
• Cross a road or street to the other side looking behind briefly to identify if someone is following you taking note of what they are doing and what they are wearing
• Cross the road or street a number of times looking behind briefly to see if the same person is following you
• Use traffic lights and public crossings to stop and observe the person
• Does the person stop when you stop?
• Does the person walk past you and carry on?
• Ensure you are aware and have knowledge of that person’s movements
• Is the person still behind you?
• What direction did the person go after they walked past you?