Did you feel safer in Canada or in the U.S.?

[The Dude 206]

That being said, would dare cut through central park at 3 a.m. on a friday night to get home quicker or go around it? (Just playing devil's advocate here)

are you asking me or saying you would?

me? some parts of central park are safer than others. i'd be more worried about being bitten by a rabid squirrel! i've been in the park late at night and because i have COMMON SENSE and am AWARE, i did feel a slight sense of urgency to quickstep it, but i did not feel impending doom.

i'd be more likely to walk through the park on the weekend, actually, because the bridge & tunnel crowd are in town getting drunk, so there are more people around.

all of this is irrelevant though, because i'm never on the west side

No, that was my point. I think if you grow up in a large urban area, you know what to look for, you are aware of certain things that someone from a smaller town might not be. That is your comfort zone, and that is what mine is. I would have a much higher chance of getting killed in a small town in the woods by some form of wildlife than I would in los angeles. I know the area, I know the people, and I know what to look for.

I've cut through central park once. Was good exercise getting chaced by a feral pack of homeless. My friend was laughing her #### off when I got back to Brooklyn and told her what I did. Aparently, you're not supposed to cut through the park at 3 a.m.

[bogartnoir 0]

No, that was my point. I think if you grow up in a large urban area, you know what to look for, you are aware of certain things that someone from a smaller town might not be. That is your comfort zone, and that is what mine is. I would have a much higher chance of getting killed in a small town in the woods by some form of wildlife than I would in los angeles. I know the area, I know the people, and I know what to look for.

I've cut through central park once. Was good exercise getting chaced by a feral pack of homeless. My friend was laughing her #### off when I got back to Brooklyn and told her what I did. Aparently, you're not supposed to cut through the park at 3 a.m.

smaller towns scare me, frankly. i used to live in portland, oregon. a small city. and while i felt pretty safe- they have a large amount of crazy-assed meth heads over there. who knows what those type of people are willing to do. you know?

meanwhile, times square is now disneyland II: electric boogaloo! can't find a decent hooker anyplace here nowadays...

ps: yeah if you can go around central park at 3 am- it would be your best bet. hah!

Edited September 8, 2009 by bogartnoir

[The Dude 206]

No, that was my point. I think if you grow up in a large urban area, you know what to look for, you are aware of certain things that someone from a smaller town might not be. That is your comfort zone, and that is what mine is. I would have a much higher chance of getting killed in a small town in the woods by some form of wildlife than I would in los angeles. I know the area, I know the people, and I know what to look for.

I've cut through central park once. Was good exercise getting chaced by a feral pack of homeless. My friend was laughing her #### off when I got back to Brooklyn and told her what I did. Aparently, you're not supposed to cut through the park at 3 a.m.

smaller towns scare me, frankly. i used to live in portland, oregon. a small city. and while i felt pretty safe- they have a large amount of crazy-assed meth heads over there. who knows what those type of people are willing to do. you know?

meanwhile, times square is now disneyland II: electric boogaloo! can't find a decent hooker anyplace here nowadays...

ps: yeah if you can go around central park at 3 am- it would be your best bet. hah!

I've lived in Mexico City, Los Angeles, Derry, N. Ireland, and Valencia Spain. I have to say that by far, the scariest place was Derry N. Ireland. But that was another time, and another world really. Mexico City can be scary to the uninitiated, but if you can speak spanish well enough, by and large it's a great city. All that said, I just don't think I could live in NYC. Something about living in Los Angeles.

[thetreble 19]

It's more than just being aware. How are you "aware" and how can you "prepare" yourself in a city like Newark, NJ? It's one of the dangerous places to live in the United States....

And I will say this..I feel MUCH safe in New York City than I do in most places in North Jersey. I'd live in the city in a heart beat...well..manhattan or bk.

[bogartnoir 0]

It's more than just being aware. How are you "aware" and how can you "prepare" yourself in a city like Newark, NJ? It's one of the dangerous places to live in the United States....

And I will say this..I feel MUCH safe in New York City than I do in most places in North Jersey. I'd live in the city in a heart beat...well..manhattan or bk.

the same way you can be aware and be prepared in someplace like detroit. watch your ####. don't go out at night in places that you know are unsafe. keep your expensive belongings (ipods) hidden when youre on public transportation. don't court problems with people. know where you are and where you're going. look around. see people looking suspicious? walk away. stay where there are lots of people and places to be. carry a whistle or mace or an airhorn with you.

[Road 2 Peace Arch 0]

I will have to add in that I felt safer in Canada than here - and I lived for virtually all of my adult life on my own as well. The most that happened is that I had on street parking and a few times I would come out and find my glove compartment rifled through. As I never had anything of value in the car I never locked it. Oh, except once - back in 1987 - my windsurfer - which was chained onto the roof racks of my car with a combination lock - was stolen off of the car one night - they cut through the chain.

Because I had no air conditioning during the summer I often left the door of my apartment open with just the screen door in place. I used to love going for walks in the evening or after dark - it was a way to calm and center myself after the day. I never had any concerns - whether I lived in Kingston, St. Catharines or Chatham.

Here we live in suburbia - and the online newsletter for our community is rife with crime reports. What the heck? This is a nice middle class community. While I will leave the windows open at night when we are home everything is closed and locked up when we are out and the outside security lights left on. I will go for walks in twilight but not after dark - even though the neighbourhood is safe, it just doesn't feel it.

I also felt a lot safer on the roads in Canada than I do here - tailgating seems to be a National sport - even when I am already going over the speed limit. Drivers don't know how the basic rules of the road and the lack of courtesy is appalling. Seeing police obviously wearing guns and bullet proof vests makes you realize that crime is serious big time in the US. I think the statistics speak for themselves.

I've been going back forth to Canada since 1989 and I've never seen the crime and crime rate in Vancouver as bad as it is now. I feel safe in Vancouver but no safer than being in Seattle. I feel the Vancouver Police, the city government and Canada/BC/Vancouver laws are just overwhelmed with the drug problem, gangs and other crimes right now. I watch the CBC Vancouver news every night from Seattle and it doesnt seem to be getting better. My fiancee lives and works there, takes public transportation and yes I worry about her. Again in fairness, I'd worry about her using public transportation in the Seattle area as well. Vancouver is a wonderful city.

As far as drivers go, in my opinion, Canadian drivers are worse drivers than US drivers but in fairness, I'll just compare Seattle vs. Vancouver drivers. So, Vancouver drivers are much worse than Seattle drivers, hands down!! For example, to add to the misery of driving in Vancouver, Canadian drivers just feel they need to be in the far left lane on Highway 1 (or any major street for that matter) and own it while driving -5Km less than the speed limit Traffic stacks up behind them and they are like Mr. Magoo... Ever try to drive in Vancouver during rush hour? I think traffic engineers in Vancouver have decided that left turn lanes are a waste of pavement and hey, just for grins, we'll let folks park in the far right traffic lanes of major streets in all but the most busy rush hour times I could go on but I wont

[trailmix 77]

It's more than just being aware. How are you "aware" and how can you "prepare" yourself in a city like Newark, NJ? It's one of the dangerous places to live in the United States....

And I will say this..I feel MUCH safe in New York City than I do in most places in North Jersey. I'd live in the city in a heart beat...well..manhattan or bk.

the same way you can be aware and be prepared in someplace like detroit. watch your ####. don't go out at night in places that you know are unsafe. keep your expensive belongings (ipods) hidden when youre on public transportation. don't court problems with people. know where you are and where you're going. look around. see people looking suspicious? walk away. stay where there are lots of people and places to be. carry a whistle or mace or an airhorn with you.

You really need to read what you just wrote. People who feel safe don't feel the need to carry mace or an airhorn. How is a place 'safe' when you wouldn't feel comfortable using your ipod on a bus?

Plus, it almost like you are addressing your comments to a bunch of un-street savvy hicks - I don't think that applies to the people responding in this thread

Oh and the xenophobia thing - I just want to say that it actually didn't dawn on me until later what you were REALLY saying - and it's insulting. I'm not trying to be confrontational with you, really, just wanted to say that.

Edited September 9, 2009 by trailmix

[Danu 19]

I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that males generally (not all) tend to feel safer in situations women would rather just avoid. If I had the choice of walking down the street or through a park....I would call a cab. I tend not to walk alone anymore anywhere because theres just too many creeps around and you never know. I would say (in general...and quite possibly I'm wrong) that men don't really worry about being kidnapped and raped as much as women do.

Even in area's I think are safe, I wouldn't walk alone at night. I definately feel safer walking here during the daytime then I do when I'm visiting Wes, but thats also because Kingston is a lot smaller and the area he lives in is next to a rather questionable area. When he was mugged it was broad daylight, in his open, above ground parking, where had any neighbors been out, they would have seen what was going on. I'm sure though if he didn't live in that area I wouldn't be quite as cautious as I am. I know I was a lot more cautious too when I lived in Ottawa because it was bigger.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Danu

[Malrothien 6]

I will have to add in that I felt safer in Canada than here - and I lived for virtually all of my adult life on my own as well. The most that happened is that I had on street parking and a few times I would come out and find my glove compartment rifled through. As I never had anything of value in the car I never locked it. Oh, except once - back in 1987 - my windsurfer - which was chained onto the roof racks of my car with a combination lock - was stolen off of the car one night - they cut through the chain.

Because I had no air conditioning during the summer I often left the door of my apartment open with just the screen door in place. I used to love going for walks in the evening or after dark - it was a way to calm and center myself after the day. I never had any concerns - whether I lived in Kingston, St. Catharines or Chatham.

Here we live in suburbia - and the online newsletter for our community is rife with crime reports. What the heck? This is a nice middle class community. While I will leave the windows open at night when we are home everything is closed and locked up when we are out and the outside security lights left on. I will go for walks in twilight but not after dark - even though the neighbourhood is safe, it just doesn't feel it.

I also felt a lot safer on the roads in Canada than I do here - tailgating seems to be a National sport - even when I am already going over the speed limit. Drivers don't know how the basic rules of the road and the lack of courtesy is appalling. Seeing police obviously wearing guns and bullet proof vests makes you realize that crime is serious big time in the US. I think the statistics speak for themselves.

I've been going back forth to Canada since 1989 and I've never seen the crime and crime rate in Vancouver as bad as it is now. I feel safe in Vancouver but no safer than being in Seattle. I feel the Vancouver Police, the city government and Canada/BC/Vancouver laws are just overwhelmed with the drug problem, gangs and other crimes right now. I watch the CBC Vancouver news every night from Seattle and it doesnt seem to be getting better. My fiancee lives and works there, takes public transportation and yes I worry about her. Again in fairness, I'd worry about her using public transportation in the Seattle area as well. Vancouver is a wonderful city.

As far as drivers go, in my opinion, Canadian drivers are worse drivers than US drivers but in fairness, I'll just compare Seattle vs. Vancouver drivers. So, Vancouver drivers are much worse than Seattle drivers, hands down!! For example, to add to the misery of driving in Vancouver, Canadian drivers just feel they need to be in the far left lane on Highway 1 (or any major street for that matter) and own it while driving -5Km less than the speed limit Traffic stacks up behind them and they are like Mr. Magoo... Ever try to drive in Vancouver during rush hour? I think traffic engineers in Vancouver have decided that left turn lanes are a waste of pavement and hey, just for grins, we'll let folks park in the far right traffic lanes of major streets in all but the most busy rush hour times I could go on but I wont

I live in Van, too. I totally agree - it has progressively gotten worse here in the past decade. I think the gang/drug issue is a large part of it.

And yes, I agree again with the Seattle vs. Vancouver drivers. The things I see drivers doing here is appalling. People here apparently don't know what the yield sign means, nor how to treat pedestrians.

[warlord 72]

I live in Van, too. I totally agree - it has progressively gotten worse here in the past decade. I think the gang/drug issue is a large part of it.

The same is going for Toronto now according to my parents that it's gotten worse and worse and the heavy Caibbean gang activity has really escalated...

[Ban Hammer 13,113]

Right now I'm living in Amherstburg, ON & I couldn't ask for a better place to live. I totally feel safe living here.

My fiance lives in Plymouth, MI(Plymouth township). I can say I feel safe there.

Better than when he lived in Ypsilanti...anyone in Michigan would know it's not the nicest place to be. The night before he moved out, one of the people in his building was stabbed with a sword. Pools of blood all over the parking lot.

But either city or country I always take precautions. I always lock my doors.

***To the person who's hisband/boyfriend/fiance wants them to get a gun when they move to the U.S.......

Take a firearms training/CCW class. When you are taught safe handling of a firearm, there's no reason to be scared of it.

[SapphireDreams 71]

I definitely felt safer in Toronto as a general whole, but I think that had a lot to do with my familiarity of the area, knowing where I could go if I was in trouble etc. Knowing what areas to stay away from if I got lost etc. Here in NYC, if I get lost somewhere, it's definitely a bit scarier and makes me feel much unsafe because I don't know my surroundings as well. I stayed away from bad neighborhoods in Toronto, so why wouldn't I do the same here in NYC? It's the same concept.

It's hard to make a direct comparison here because I used to live in Mississauga, a very quiet suburb and now I live in Queens. There's definitely more crime here, but there are also a lot more people. I don't generally walk from the subway to my house at night here, my husband meets me, but in time when I'm more familiar with my surroundings, I'll be fine walking by myself. But, you know it's not uncommon to see all first floor windows covered with bars here. That's just the way it is. People don't think anything of it. Do I feel unsafe here? Not really, maybe at first, but not anymore.

I personally find the news to be a lot more sensationalized here in the US so I just don't watch it. I think Canadian news broadcasts really pick and choose what crimes they report on tv. Whereas in the US it's a lot more cut throat and if there is a crime, it's reported. For example, CTV news showcases a segment called 'Webmania' during the 6 p.m. news. You would never see that here in NYC. They report strictly on crime and politics with a feel good story thrown in. It really changes the perception of the city and what's going on around us.

Now NYC in the 80's was apparently a really BAD place to live. Reading about the history of crime and the amount of change that has happened since then definitely makes me feel a lot safer.

[Sprailenes 47]

The area I live in isn't terrible, but you literally drive down the road and you're in Maple Shade which is a not so nice area. About 20 minutes west of me is Camden, the worst city in the US... I believe it is still in the running for first. I am not used to having such contrasts in areas. I grew up in regent park in Toronto, so I kind of lived in a not so nice area before but I never considered it unsafe, perhaps because I was a child at the time. My mother though tells me that she always felt unsafe there.

My husband works in center city Philadelphia and when he has to work late I will drive in to pick him up because I am not comfortable with him taking the train home at night - even though he is, I am not. There are horror stories of patco and septa and I am not willing to risk anything.

[Krikit 1,163]

There are horror stories of patco and septa and I am not willing to risk anything.

I had to google that. lol

[Sprailenes 47]

Yea sorry, its the transit systems in and around the Philadelphia area.

I mean just about a month ago or so some kids beat a starbucks manager to death at a downtown SEPTA station. I understand that this can happen anywhere and I know there is violence everywhere where you go... BUT I would take the TTC in Toronto at any time and not think twice... whereas when I get on SEPTA I sometimes fear for my life.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Sprailenes