Share Your Route When Walking Alone at Night

Before walking alone at night, share your live location with a trusted contact and send them a message confirming when you have arrived safely. Having an active witness to your journey creates accountability and ensures that someone can act quickly if you stop responding. Predatory crimes against individuals walking alone at night are significantly easier to commit when no one knows where the victim was going or when they were expected to arrive. This habit takes under thirty seconds and dramatically reduces the window in which an incident could go unnoticed. It is not about fear — it is about making sure someone has your back.

Steps to follow:

• Open WhatsApp or Google Maps and share your live location with a trusted contact before you leave.
• Text that contact your destination and estimated arrival time.
• Check in with a message or call when you arrive, even if it is just a single emoji.
• Stick to well-lit, populated streets and avoid shortcuts through dark or unfamiliar areas.
• If you feel followed, walk toward the nearest open business, petrol station, or security post — do not go home directly.