Probably 2, maybe it goes up t 3 in certain situations. Although there is crime in my neighborhood, I don’t feel at risk.
You can get a set of tires replaced in an afternoon. That broken tibia will not heal anywhere nearly as quickly. And it’s gonna hurt a whole hell of a lot more.
Yeah, what a bizarre answer. “I’d rather live in pain/severe discomfort for a month or so than shell out for some new tires.”
I’d say I’m a 1.5. I live in Oakland, which a lot of people think is scary, but just like every big city, the violence is pretty much confined to certain areas.
Zero. I realize my chance of being attacked or whatever isn’t actually zero, but it’s damn small and it occupies none of my time with concern or actions to prevent it. There’s several reasons that I just have no need to worry.
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I live in a safe neighborhood. The only crime I ever see reported in my area is non-violent crime like thefts and vandalisms. The only one I recall seeing since I moved to where I live was a murder in my neighborhood a few years ago, but that was from a domestic dispute, so it does nothing to increase my risk.
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I’m seldom in places where it’s likely to happen. There are some bad neighborhoods around, but I have little reason to go there. I don’t go out drinking, so I’m not going to get in a bar fight. About the riskiest thing I regularly do is go to concerts, and there’s always that one drunk asshole, but usually when they get rowdy, either the bouncer gets to them before they cause trouble, or I can de-escalate the situation fairly easily.
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I’m not a target. I’m generally one of the biggest and strongest guys wherever I am. I’m also pretty good at projecting that I’m not a guy to be triffled with. So, pretty much, unless I’m specifically targetted for whatever reason, I think anyone who might be looking to rob someone or start something will probably just wait for the next person.
I take sensible precautions precisely so that my general level of worry/anxiety remains around a 1. Just like you can report pain as a 1 when you take your medicine. Now if you were to prevent me from taking precautions like locking my car, then my anxiety would increase dramatically.
I work in some of the roughest neighborhoods in Chicago. So sometimes, some days, that number goes up to a 4. Those are when I take extra precautions, like parking right in front of my patient’s home and calling them from the car, so I know they are at the door when I reach it. I really don’t want to be lingering on the porch in some of these neighborhoods. If there’s actively going on that raises my level to a 5 or above, I keep driving and call my boss and tell him I don’t feel safe, so I’m missing a visit. That’s happened twice in three years.
I’m not worried about being a target. As one of my patients told me, “Ain’t no one want a dead white woman in this neighborhood.” The news and police would be all over that shit. I’m much more concerned about stray bullets if the gangs get stupid. So I do watch out for groups of young folks standing in clumps, particularly if there’s a group on one corner and one on the other and they’re huddled up throwing glances at each other. Um…Maybe they’re organizing a bake sale, but Imma keep driving around the block and hope they break it up before I get back. Usually, they do.
Eh, I think it’s a wash. The ER visit and doctor & pharmacy copays for the broken tibia could well = 4 new tires.
Exactly. As my wife likes to say: not everybody outside your door is a friend. We lock our doors at night, and keep the front door locked during the day, even when home. I don’t open the door to strangers until they state their business. We have an intrusion alarm for when we’re away, and a motion-activated floodlight for the rear. As a very last resort, I have a pistol in the closet, but put no real stock in having it there, as someone intent on getting in and assaulting you will likely be all over you before you can retrieve a weapon.
When out in public, I keep my head up and I keep an eye on what’s going on around me, and on who is in my general vicinity. It’s astounding to me the huge number of people who are oblivious to their surroundings and who keep their entire attention on their cellphones. I’m not paranoid, but I do believe that exercising caution has kept me out of harm’s way over the years.
I imagine it depends where you’re taking the subway. The commuter train during normal hours, no problem. Some other lines at night…different.
Zero. Maybe one if I’m an a business trip to say New Orleans. Just using common street sense and not living in a bad part of town is about all I need to do.
What makes you say that anyplace on the DC metro is unsafe at night? There were 2135 major crimes in the DC metro in 2013 (which isn’t very much considering the ridership is over 700,000 daily) and only 106 were violent crimes.
I ride the NYC subway at all hours of the night and it’s perfectly safe. Did you know NYC subway is shaping up to have 1.2 BILLION rides this year?
Just more of your typical anti- urban scaremongering.
Edit: 106 violent crimes anywhere in the DC Transit system. Only 95 of the 2135 crimes occurred in the metro system. Riding DC metro is considerably safer than walking down the street in say, Indianapolis.
Where I live now? Zero.
When I used to live in Tampa? Zero during the day, perhaps 1-2 at night.
I don’t frequent areas of ill repute, notwithstanding the whole Florida thing.
1, down from a 2 about a year ago.
On my soapbox–I know 4 people who have been shot to death. I no longer live in either metro area.
Daily, normal routine: 1
Traveling: 2
I live in supposedly one of the most dangerous cities in America, but I only would say 2 or so.
1
I do think about it ;but only when I hear of a violent crime that occurs near where I live. I am not much of a worrier; however I drive with all the car doors locked and I lock the doors on my house.
huh, I am really bewildered by everybody’s super low 0s and 1s. I don’t think of myself as someone that lives in fear much, but I would rate my level of worry more about a 5.
It’s not so much that I spend much time worrying about becoming a victim as that I don’t do activities I would really like to do because of that worry.
The main thing I would really like to do that I don’t is wander around in the woods alone. I used to wander the woods as a child and teenager without a thought. In college I did the same until a series of rapes around campus scared me. Suddenly I realized that I was alone and no one could hear me scream. Any chance of that fear fading was gone when I moved to my current town and three college students were attacked in the woods, a woman raped while the two men she was with were tied up and held at gunpoint.
I would also like to take night walks in my neighborhood (also a common habit of my youth), and while this scares me far less, it’s still too scary for me.
Also once I laid awake scared that a crazy lady I tried to help (back before I knew she was crazy and thought she was just unfortunate) would burn my house down. She didn’t but it still doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.
1, maybe 2. I lock my doors, lock my car. I also live in a well-lit suburban area, near the very well lit campus of the posh private high school where I teach.
I just want to note that though I rated a zero, that doesn’t mean I don’t lock my door. It’s just that I don’t lock my door because I fear violent crime per the OP. I lock my door because it’s a good method of ensuring all my stuff’s there when I return.
In my own case, it may be that I’m as oblivious as Mr. Magoo. 