One out of two women in the UK feels unsafe to walk alone at night, as per the Office for National Statistics. Emma Kaye is the founder of WalkSafe app. She came up with the concept of introducing this app after experiencing groping, flashing and harassment. Emma says that the app is both bitter and sweet as “we love that we’re busy”. On the other side, it’s not an accomplishment that we need a safety app. No one wants to live in this kind of scenario according to her.
WalkSafe’s new features
A new sat-nav feature will be added to WalkSafe next year. Sat-nav is a satellite-based navigation system. The new feature will have a live map to help your friends and family to track you. Also, they will be able to talk to you in real time. The app for now, just has a map that let people choose the safest route for their destination. The app highlights the recent crime data in the area. Kaye the app founder said that the aim of the app is to encourage people to take precautionary measures instead of reactionary measures to avoid crime. She also added that they have senior ex-Metropolitan police detectives and crime analysts to go through their data. They also categorize the map into areas the users would want to know. By going through the crime patterns, users can identify the crime hotspots and choose to travel through safer routes. The WalkSafe app has already crossed 500,000 downloads since its launch in March.
Smartwatch for Women safety
The app has already helped many women to be keep while they are out. Other than this app, researchers at the University of Bath are developing a women’s smartwatch. The researchers are trying to figure out the ways to solve the problem of safety products which are not easy to activate physically. They have named the smartwatch as ‘Epowar’. The watch will automatically send alerts if it will sense any sort of distress in the user. This will be possible with the help of a monitor, that will monitor body motion and heart rate of the user. Where did the idea of developing a smartwatch for women came from? The co-founder, student E-J Roodt said that the idea of developing a smartwatch for women’s safety came to her while jogging. It was at the badly-lit park where she was worried about the risk of an attack. She then knew that the smartwatches have the ability to detect heart attacks and heart rate. So, she wanted to use this technology for women’s safety as well. “It occurred to us that a smartwatch with this app may be a way to alert others if a woman is restrained or struggling”, she added. The Home Office in July 2021 launched a £5 million fund to help in improving the safety of women. The safety was kept in mind especially during the night time.
