As a woman who travels extensively with work, I find that I often have to drive to places I don’t know and park in public car parks. During the winter months, I do a lot of this travelling after dark.
I was reminded recently of some tips I was once given about personal safety when driving alone and parking in places that you are not familiar with, and would like to share them with you. Please think about these for yourself, and also include them in your health and safety briefings for staff.
- Plan your journey, including the route you will take and where you plan to park.
- Tell someone where you are going and when you plan to arrive, and arrange to make contact at an agreed time to let them know you’ve arrived safely.
- Check if the place you plan to park is safe (perhaps it has a Safe Car Parks Award). If you’re not sure, ask someone at your destination to recommend somewhere where it will be safe for you to park.
- Park close to the pedestrian exit even if that means going up a floor.
- Reverse into the space (if someone follows you back to your car this enables you to use your door as a barrier).
- Don’t leave anything visible in your car that identifies your gender.
- Don’t leave items in your car which show your home address.
- If you have to return to your car after dark ask someone to walk there with you and then drop them where they need to go.
- Keep your insurance details in the glove compartment so that you can show them through the window without having to get out of the car following a collision.
- Don’t stop until you reach a safe and populated place if you are flagged down by another driver, even if you think it is a police car.
For more advice and tips about personal safety, including lone working visit The Suzy Lamplugh Trust
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