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Meh, I think it depends on the city... Houston has a much higher crime rate than San Jose (my region) overall, and I also know which neighborhoods to avoid around here. But if you're in the suburbs, or a safer part of the city, nighttime isn't much different from my perspective. Also helps that I usually have my dog with me, and people know better than to approach a woman with a 50lb Shepherd by her side.
I'm not denying that crime rates are generally higher at night; just saying that the paranoia, or assumption that everyone out is "up to no good," is a bit silly. Like someone else here said, it strikes me as how a scared-of-their-own-shadow pearl clutcher would think. Good to be safe/aware, but not paranoid imo.
Or someone who lives in a neighborhood that is drive-through (fast) territory for the pearl clutchers.
Fine by day, not so much by night.
If you live with the haves, it's a different story.
I haven't seen any mention of "up to no good" in this thread, except in your post. I didn't read all of it.
Or someone who lives in a neighborhood that is drive-through (fast) territory for the pearl clutchers.
Fine by day, not so much by night.
If you live with the haves, it's a different story.
I've lived in literally EVERY type of neighborhood over the years, from the worst to some of the best... that's never changed my nighttime habits much, aside from maybe having my dog with me more often in the bad areas. Actually, I adopted my dog when I was living in the ghetto.
Quote:
I haven't seen any mention of "up to no good" in this thread, except in your post. I didn't read all of it.
I was paraphrasing, but here are some examples from the thread...
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Originally Posted by WiseManOnceSaid
Nothing good happens after midnight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Forever Blue
I agree! Once it's 9 or 10p & after, there's a higher rate of crimes, etc. because people do bad things at night a lot
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Originally Posted by feck
Have you heard the song "Freaks Come out at Night"?
There is some truth to it.
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Originally Posted by Jowel
The people out late in the evenings tend to be noisier, rowdier, generally more trifling (the type of people who block store aisles with their shopping carts) and don't seem to have their acts together as much as people who like to get things done early in the mornings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joee5
Besides, nothing good happens after midnight anyways.
Great post and blog. Everything on that site is confirmed from a Houston crime standpoint, especially on the Narcotics front. You're not going to sell drugs at 7am because that's when kids are getting ready for school and adults leave for work.
Can't argue with Houston stats. But there are other cities where people do sell and buy drugs at 7am for precisely the reasons you mentioned. Some kids make deals on their way to school, at school, or on their way home. Some adults make deals before they drive off to work.
No. Among other things, we're terrified of driving at night. It's nutty around here. Phoenix has very wide surface streets, seven lanes in some cases. The streets are lined with apartments, strip malls, etc. with too many access points in the wrong places. Drivers go too fast and change lanes unnecessarily. Often the streets are poorly lit. Pedestrian crossings are limited and poor. Pedestrians are tempted to jaywalk, and they do. I heard on the radio that Phoenix was number 1 for pedestrian fatalities. I don't want to throw that out there as fact. I might have misheard the report. But it wouldn't surprise me. If I lived in the country again, I might spend the night hours fishing for bass or whatever. But here, it's not even worth it to go out for a pizza. You take your life in your hands, or somebody else's life. It's not that bad by day, although you still have to be alert.
That's a shame. I'd want to move out of that area! What kind of life is that to live?
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Originally Posted by unwillingphoenician
There's a graph of crime by time of day for Houston at the bottom of this blog page.
Crime is higher at night, maybe twice as high. If we adjusted that for the number of people on the street by day and by night, it would look a lot worse. I'm not terrified by crime. I don't spend hours studying crime statistics on city-data or anywhere else. But these statistics back up what common sense tells me.
...
unwillingphoenician, YES!
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Originally Posted by gizmo980
Again with this stupid saying! Can you guys at least explain why you feel this way? And do you ever go out after midnight to see if it's true??...
Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980
I've lived in literally EVERY type of neighborhood over the years, from the worst to some of the best... that's never changed my nighttime habits much, aside from maybe having my dog with me more often in the bad areas. Actually, I adopted my dog when I was living in the ghetto.
...
gizmo980, you may have lived in every type of neighborhood, so good. Sure, you say you do your things at night because you can &/or want to, so fine. Everyone does things when they want to.
You still sound a bit naive. It's common sense that worse, more dangerous things happen at night, just like worse things occur on Fri nights & the weekends as opposed to M-Th & anyone would know that if they watched the news even just a few times. And if you've watched those true forensic shows on the Investigation Discovery channel, you'd really see. At night, it's dark, so CERTAIN (didn't say ALL) people who are going to be up to no good will tend to do their actions at night so as not to be spotted right away & can then slip out into the night. They wear dark clothes to blend in. They're not going to wear fluorescent clothing w/ reflectors, then commit their crimes & if nighttime wasn't the issue, the'd wear that & not care who sees them.
You asked if we've gone out at midnight or later to see how it really is. Some don't have to since they know better & don't want to take that risk! As they say better to be safe, than sorry OR better to err on the side of caution. Of course people have a MUCH higher chances of bad things happening to them (rape, murder, assault, theft, eft.) if they were out at night & the wee hrs of the morning let's say 4+ times a week as opposed to 2 or less times a week. Plus, young kids who are up to mischief always want to sneak out at night to do things.
I'm not paranoid either, but it's good to have your wits about you, be aware, & have common sense. Not just go out there w/ the mentality that, "nothing will ever happen to me in a million yrs because I've seen it all & nothing's happened before...maybe to other people, but not ME."
Why do you think they have these safety tips to do, ESPECIALLY at night. Sure it's good to do this at ALL times, but you never hear them say, do these things ONLY during the daytime:
Can't argue with Houston stats. But there are other cities where people do sell and buy drugs at 7am for precisely the reasons you mentioned. Some kids make deals on their way to school, at school, or on their way home. Some adults make deals before they drive off to work.
I've seen that plenty times growing up in Acres Homes, drug transactions going on right when I was getting on the bus to go to school. Kids and adults were selling. The trick was as you said, kids do deals prior to, at or on their way home from school and adults before work. Any other time wasn't good because police were just starting patrols through the neighborhood.
I used to when it was easier to travel to the areas and events that I enjoyed. But just like most things here more people ruined everything. The same experience now includes an entire travel itinerary with so much added overhead cost that it is not worth the effort.
Obviously during some times of the year, it can be dark when I am arriving or leaving work, even though I work pretty typical business hours.
But otherwise, I've got a volunteering gig at a club (a private social club geared to my community of people) and I have to go run parties and discussion groups, classes, game nights, and so on fairly often. I feel safe there. I also attend functions at a couple of other locations...a couple of bars host get togethers for this same set of people, and there is a house that has monthly house parties. The one last weekend included a formal tea service, so that was pretty cool.
I have had a concert habit that has had me out late in some pretty sketchy neighborhoods. And I used to live right near Over the Rhine in Cincinnati. Not really sure but as much as they talk about Richmond, VA being a rough town, I think that area of Cinci might have 'em beat. I've also traversed Seattle, Portland, Denver, Tulsa, DC, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Louisville, Davenport (IA) AND Davenport (KY), Des Moines, Albuquerque, Fort Collins, um... That's all I can think of at the moment but there's probably more. At night, on foot, with or without friends, not always in the best parts of town, all because of my concert habit. I've never really felt very unsafe. But I'm very situationally aware and I'm good at throwing off "I totally belong here" vibes that make me kind of invisible when I choose. Of course that doesn't make me invincible or anything and some of it is just luck, but I have a way of making even cracked out sketchy people want to be friendly towards me and not nasty. I put people at ease, in person, or something. I dunno.
(EDIT: I am 39, and I'm out at night way more now than I was in my 20's. Because my kids are grown/nearly grown now, and they were little then.)
I walk my dogs at night on my section of land here in Coos County NH and we love it. My nearest neighbor is a retired Logger 2 miles through the woods.
About 6pm 3 times a week we meet halfway and talk about nothing .In winter we do it on snow machines ,without dogs.
Wife and I are nightowls, and we do have an active nightlife. In fact we relish the nightclub/dance club experience. We don't have kids and have an active social circle. I'm in my early 40s. We also travel to different raves around the world several times a year as well. I have no plans on slowing down
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Haven't seen it in years, needs to be used more.
