Last night a few things happened to make me renege on my promise to not enter the tech dev world again.
The first was one of my University students asked me to walk her to the tram stop as she didn't feel safe out at night. It shocked me that she was so concerned, but with all the media regarding the Parliament House situation increasing awareness of how common assaults are, I can understand why she would be worried. I was glad to help.
The second was my girlfriend was looking after a grandma that was callously bashed for no apparent reason. No theft, no revenge. Just a random thug attack outside a church. Bloody shameless!
I was on the train home at 10 pm then walking home and reflecting on the safety I personally feel being a guy with a black belt and fighting training in Melbourne and wishing it was the same for all of us. I feel safe and everyone else should too.
It's a blight on our society that women (men, LGBT, people from overseas...) shouldn't feel safe in their home town. I have personally had to stand in and stand up for a couple being subjected to racist attacks on public transport. Imagine how often this is happening. Crazy.
It's got to stop.
Which brought me to think about how could I help? An idea surfaced that I wanted to share and get assistance with. Perhaps it's a poor idea, someone is already doing it or maybe, just maybe it's got legs. If it is helpful I will commit to getting it up and running.
The working title is 'SafeWalk'.
The idea is to have an Uber-like app where someone who wants some company to walk home or anywhere really, can request a 'SafeWalker' to accompany them. The person would be verified and tracked using the app on their phone.
The technology isn't complicated and the funding could be accessed with corporate partners. Again not difficult. Walkers could be rewarded with vouchers from sponsors and of course good vibes. I'm sure someone like Grill'd would support such a cause with a few free burgers.
The app would be free, there is no commercial model, it's just a helpful tool for those who feel walking with a companion would increase their level of safety. I don't have any research on the reduction in incidences if there are two or more companions, but from my experience, it would be a deterrent and also mental comfort which is sometimes just as important.
Finally, most of the other apps I have found alert your friends if you are not home on time or something actually happens. Far too late. We need to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place.
My question is, do women (or others) think this is a good idea? Would you use it? Or is it patronising? Would people sign up to be a 'SafeWalker'?
I would rather there was no need for this app in the first place, but that isn't a reality right now. So perhaps one thing we can do is provide some support for each other with some simple technology.
I welcome your thoughts.
