Is Uber Safe for Women? Taxi Safety Tips You Need to Know

Getting into an Uber or taxi should be simple. But for many women, it’s a journey that comes with worry. We’ve all heard stories of women being harassed, assaulted, or worse on their way home - and even if the cases are rare, the fear is very real.

In this episode of Self Defence for Women – Live an Empowered Life, Julie Waite and Dene Josham take a deep dive into Uber and taxi safety.

We talk about what the statistics really show and what that means for your decisions when travelling.

You’ll learn:

• Practical steps to take before booking a ride
• The safest place to sit in an Uber (and why)
• Red flags during a journey — and what to do if something feels wrong
• Smart ways to use safety features built into the app
• Simple self-defence tactics that work in confined spaces like a car
• How to trust your gut instinct — and act early

This episode isn’t about fear, it’s about control. With preparation, awareness, and the right strategies, you can feel safer and more confident every time you get into a taxi or Uber.

➡️ If you find this episode helpful, please follow, rate, and review the podcast. It helps more women discover these safety strategies and live with greater confidence.

Want to feel safer, stronger, and more prepared?
Join our community of people taking back control of their safety — and get instant access to our free self defense and safety tip downloads.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Why Uber and Taxi Safety Matters for Women
• 1:39 What the Statistics Really Tell Us
• 5:35 How to Plan Ahead for a Safer Ride
• 11:03 In-Car Safety Tips: Where to Sit and What to Check
• 14:57 Key Takeaways on Staying Safe in Taxis and Ubers
• 15:51 Trusting Your Instincts and Acting Early
• 20:31 Handling Red Flags and Uncomfortable Situations
• 21:31 What to Do in a Serious Crisis
• 26:32 Self-Defence Options if the Worst Happens
• 33:26 Choosing the Safest Way Home at Night
• 35:31 3 Key Takeaways on Uber Safety

Transcript

Julie Waite (00:00)

Getting into an Uber or taxi should be a straightforward way to get home, but for many women it's a source of real anxiety. We've all heard horror stories of women being assaulted, raped or even murdered on their way home. And while those cases are rare, they sit heavily in our minds every time we step into a car with a stranger. That's why in this episode we're talking about how to make those journeys safer, what to look out for and the practical steps that can help you feel more in control.

Welcome to Self Defence for Women, Live an Empowered Life, the podcast that helps you stay safe, feel strong, and take control of your personal security, both physically and emotionally. I'm Julie Waite, Women's Self Defence Advocate, and alongside me is Dene Josham,

self-defence instructor with 30 years experience and former bodyguard to stars including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Together we're here to give you real-world safety strategies, expert insights and practical tips that help you feel more confident wherever life takes you. And before we dive in, a quick favour, if you find this episode helpful, please follow the podcast and leave us a review. It helps us reach more people like you.

So today we're looking at the safety of getting home in an Uber. It's something many of us worry about, especially when traveling alone. Over the summer, we received a message from a listener that sums it up perfectly. It says,

One topic I'd love to see covered is personal safety when getting taxis or Ubers. I think about this a lot as I'm aware it can be quite dangerous for a solo female passenger but never know if it's best to avoid taking them altogether or if there are steps to make the journey safer. And that's such a good point because the question isn't just about how it feels, it's about what the facts actually say. So let's start with the statistics.

In the UK, there are no national figures on sexual offences involving taxi or private hire drivers. Even freedom of information requests to individual police forces are often coming back incomplete, inconsistent or not available. So it's hard to get statistics for the UK. In the US, a New York Times investigation this year discovered court filings showing Uber received over 400,000 reports of sexual assault or sexual

misconduct in the US between 2017 and 2022 and they worked out that averaged a report every eight minutes.

And we are right to feel concerned because even if the official statistics are patchy, these are real concerns. And when you are having to get into a car with a stranger, you are taking a risk every time you do that.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (02:19)

you

Julie Waite (02:31)

Dene, when you hear statistics like the one in the US and you see news headlines, what's your thoughts on this and what's the balance between being vigilant and being fearful?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (02:42)

Yeah, it's shocking isn't it when you look at the statistics and It's just one of those parts of life that we've got to be more aware of like I always say you've got to analyze look at your life and what you do and Where potential dangers are and transport is public transport is you know?

It's in the news all the time things are happening so it's to be more aware going okay I'm going to use public transport, I'm going to use a taxi. I need to pay more attention to that. I need to understand what the dangers are, what's going on and what I can do to stay safer and obviously limit my exposure to that.

Julie Waite (03:17)

Yeah, is. It's, you know, we have, we get asked what's the safest way to get home or safest way to travel. And the reality is there is no safest way. Even if you're driving yourself home in the car, there's still a risk. So it's about weighing up, like you said, weighing up those risks and just trying to make it as safe as it can be.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (03:34)

you

Julie Waite (03:37)

So what we thought we'd do today is go through a number of key areas that you can look at when you are using an Uber. And the first one is before you actually get in the car. So the preparation and looking at all the safety features. So Dene, what are your thoughts on what people can do before their journey?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (03:56)

I think you've got to look at when you're going to need that, what you're doing, what time you're going to need it, are you going to pre-book it.

get it all arranged before, are you going to leave it for 10 minutes before? Understand how that's going to work for you and using the right platforms, official platforms and then digging into that driver as in read up on them, check out if they've got any reviews, if there's anything in there that when you read it, know, gives you that sort gut feeling or something, cause for concern and if you have got a concern then cancel it.

Julie Waite (04:27)

Mm.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (04:28)

Book another one and just doing that little bit of homework just to kind of give you an idea of who's coming and then obviously when that person comes verify everything

Julie Waite (04:36)

I think if you can book in advance that gives you more time to be able to do those safety checks rather than if it's kind of 10 minutes before you go out or you're out somewhere and you're trying to book it to come back. If you give yourself more time then that allows you to...

read through all the comments, see if there's a bit of a sense of something that's not quite right and just look at all the different drivers that are available. See if there are any female drivers. I know in the US that Uber is rolling out something on the app where you can look for female-only drivers which I think is a great idea but I know there aren't that many female drivers so it's then...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (05:01)

You

Julie Waite (05:19)

you know, is there going to be one where you need to go at that particular time? But that's a great option if it's available. And then looking as well at the, like Dene said, the safety features that are built into the app. So.

You can do the pin verification where you get sent a pin and then the driver has to put the pin in before the journey can start. That's a good one. You can share your trip. There's an emergency button. There's lots of different things that you can do that will just kind of added extras to keep you safer.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (05:50)

I think as well pre-booking is smarter in the sense that I've seen it when I was younger you go out and then if you're going out to clubs or pubs or whatever and then everybody piles out and it's like everybody wants a taxi everybody's queuing up in a place where you've got you know queues of people waiting for the taxi you know and that's when things do happen people are annoyed drunk or whatever they're on now and they want to get home and then it's yeah it's such a dynamic you know

Julie Waite (06:14)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (06:17)

Situation to be in so I think pre booking they said then gives you time to check and then you know You've got a taxi, You got your uber booked and you're all happy and you're not waiting around and hanging around because there might not be any ubers because everyone's booking them Yeah

Julie Waite (06:19)

Mm.

Yeah.

And then you end up doing something you probably wouldn't do because you just

need to get home and I know I've done that when I was younger and you've had some drinks and your inhibitions are down and you're not quite thinking straight and you do something risky. You either decide to walk home drunk or you get in a cab that's maybe unlicensed or someone's saying they're an Uber but you've not checked it out and unfortunately that is where things can go badly wrong.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (06:42)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (06:57)

anything you can do in advance is great. The other thing that you can do is share, tell a friend, like if there's a few of going out and you're having to go home separate ways then you can ask them to follow, you can kind of like check follow or check in with each other's journey or you've got a flatmate at home or a partner at home so that...

someone knows I'm getting in the Uber at this time and they can just be keeping an eye on you I mean obviously there's not a lot they can do in the moment if something happens but it just means there's someone else is keeping an eye on your journey and knows where you're going on that route.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (07:30)

That could be a point where that person rings you while you're in the Uber, just chatting away. You know, that could be a good deterrent as well because you're actually talking to somebody and somebody's aware rather than you're just a lone person got in a taxi.

Julie Waite (07:30)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (07:43)

So that, yeah.

Julie Waite (07:43)

And you're saying, you're saying I'll be home in 20 minutes. I keep an eye out for me. And

also this is where you can use deception and lying to work in your favour. you know, pretending it's a brother and dad, might, it might be a female friend. Or if the Uber driver starts to make conversation with you again, you could say, my, you know, my brother's waiting for me. You know, it'll be outside waiting for me or my partner's waiting up

for me or my dad's meeting me, you know, anything that you can come up with so that they know there's someone who is there waiting for you to get home at that time.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (08:20)

And also

I think it's one of things like I always say the what if game running through that how Would that be what things could you do while you're in the in the uber?

So you've given it a little bit of thought, you're not panicking, you're not stressing, you're not being paranoid. go, well, if I'm traveling alone, what could I do? Okay, I could make a phone call to somebody, I could do this, I could do that. So you've got an idea when you get in there. So you've got some kind of game plan where you're gonna sit, what you're gonna do. you

Julie Waite (08:30)

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Even if you're not making an actual call, pretend you're making a call, just pick up the phone, do something with it and then say, hi, dad, yeah, I'll be home in about 25 minutes. See you soon. Thanks for waiting

up for me. Bye. That kind of thing. Something like that. So getting into the car safely, we say to do a triple check.

before you get into the car. So to check the Uber number plate, the car make and model and the driver's photo before you get before you go to the car door and then before you get in to ask the driver who are you here for.

and those things should help ensure that you're getting in the right car and of course if you're using the pin verification as well then they have to put the pin in before the journey can start. But I think there's also an element of using your instincts so even if you do all those things and they match up you might get that gut feeling that this guy's really creepy or you just don't like something about it.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (09:45)

Also asking what their name is

Julie Waite (09:47)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (09:47)

You want to make sure they've got your name, you pick it up without giving that to them and they'll also say, what's your name? That's a general natural conversation, but also it's reaffirming they are who they are or hoping they are who they are. you

Julie Waite (09:49)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm.

And I think that's just a habit to get into. I know sometimes, particularly in the UK, we're all too polite and don't want to...

We don't want anyone to think that we think badly

of them, but if you can get into the habit of doing all those checks before you even get into the vehicle, then it gets you into a safe way of using the Uber and you know that is the person. Because a lot of these situations that have happened with women being assaulted,

you know some of them are actual uber drivers but there's a good amount of them of people that are posing as uber so you do need to be able to do those checks before you get in.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (10:42)

And

also if it's a good uber driver, I don't think they're gonna be upset by anything because we're pretty sure they're aware that you know people are posing as uber drivers and there are bad uber drivers like in everything, good and bad. So they're more you know they're gonna be aware of that so you know it's okay. Okay to do checks, okay to be thorough.

Julie Waite (10:47)

Yeah.

Yeah.

And Dene, one of the most common questions that we're asked is where's the best place to sit in the car? There's been quite, I know there's been quite a lot of debate about this online, people putting videos on TikTok and things saying don't sit in the back because of the child locks. So what's your views on where's the safest place to sit in the car?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (11:08)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Just want to say as well, you know, I know this, there's a lot of incidents against women, but also, you know, it does affect men and different genders as well. So, you know, it is applicable to potentially other people as well. You know, if you've got a

Julie Waite (11:29)

yeah it does it is it's for everyone

Dene - Streetwise Defence (11:32)

Yeah, you know, if you've got a young son or you know, so just look, make sure the people are aware as well. Where would I sit? I wouldn't sit in the front because if you look at where you sit, if somebody sits in the front with them, somebody might interpret that as all very friendly if I'm on my own because it's very easy to reach over, you know, a touch on the leg or I've just gone for my, you know, the change in, changing the gear and my hand slipped.

Julie Waite (11:38)

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

you

Dene - Streetwise Defence (11:58)

you know testing the waters or just seeing the person's response. So I would eliminate that. I would personally sit behind the driver because the driver's in front of me. If I did have to be physical, I'm in a better position Child locks, yeah it's one of those ones you could ask, do you have the child locks on? Can you take them off before you get in?

Julie Waite (12:02)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (12:16)

Yeah, personally, I would sit behind the driver. And also, you

Julie Waite (12:16)

I had... Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (12:20)

if I sit in the back and he's opposite me, you know, might get that glancing around the eye contact thing. He's driving me. That's great. I'm paying for that service. I don't have to get in conversation. I'm not there to make a friend. I just want taking home or wherever. So don't feel like you're obliged to make light talk or conversation.

You know, if somebody tries to engage with you, one word answers, you had a good night tonight, yep. No, you know, you don't have to get into that kind of like small talk stuff. Because that can lead into stuff and if, know, there's no, there's no reason why you have to have a conversation.

Julie Waite (12:39)

Yeah.

Mm.

No, and you could also do things like put one side of a headphone in so it looks like you're listening to something or that phone call that we talked about, make the phone call. With the child locks...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (12:53)

only out of politeness.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (13:07)

something when I was looking into this because you know I put a lot of thought into this as well where would I sit? I personally would sit in the back as well I wouldn't sit in the front as a woman I wouldn't sit in the front because it feels far too close it's far too personal and when I've been looking at some of these attacks looking through different reports a number of them have happened in the front where obviously like you said it's much easier for the driver to reach over and do something if they if they're going to attack you and you're

the back then they are going to have to get you somewhere and stop the car and get into the back so we'll go into that in more detail in a minute but I know people are worried about the child locks something that you could do is as soon as you get in the car as soon as you shut the door immediately try and open it and if you can't open it before you've even moved you then say to them

Dene - Streetwise Defence (13:42)

Yeah

Julie Waite (14:00)

I can't open the door when you turn the child locks out or even I want to get out I feel sick and then don't even continue that ride and try the windows as well

Dene - Streetwise Defence (14:05)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (14:08)

So that's kind of one thing. It might not work with all models of cars, maybe they can turn them on after but that's just one

option for you to try.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (14:14)

Okay.

excuse if you need to get out I'm gonna be sick or you know whatever that is and from the response from the driver that'll tell you a lot you know he should be there or whoever she should be there to reassure you and if that means getting out and switching the child locks off then that should be what they do if they turn it around and say it's for your safety yeah you kind of go well yeah I don't want them on I know when I've

Julie Waite (14:18)

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (14:38)

We're talking about Ubers. I know when I've been into a black cab, I know when they start, there's that automatic, they click on for safety. I get that. It's like saying then, test the windows. I'm pretty sure that if you can wind the window down a little bit to get your hand out, I'm pretty sure you can override the child safety lock from opening it from the outside. So that could be an option as well. So yeah, it's locked. They can't undo it for whatever. you go, well, I can open my window a little bit. Well, if I have to.

Julie Waite (14:58)

Mm. Mm.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (15:05)

I can get my hand outside, I can open the door from the outside. How the other person interacts with you, I that's the biggest one, isn't it? Because what they say, how they are, that will indicate a lot of things. And you can sense from that.

Julie Waite (15:08)

Yeah. And then once you're actually in the car, what should you be looking out for? And how can you handle that if something doesn't feel right? What are those red flags once you're in the journey?

Yeah, I think a lot of it's about trusting your gut instinct. You will generally get a feeling if something is a bit off and it's really about just listening to that and not telling yourself that you're being silly or being judgmental because of who they are or where they're from or anything like that. If you've got a weird feeling about them and you feel uncomfortable, you need to listen to that and then think about,

Dene - Streetwise Defence (15:29)

Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (15:52)

What are your next steps? Am I going to ask them to stop? Am I going to say, I think I'm going to be sick and you stop, I need to get out of the car? Obviously trying to think about where you're doing that.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (15:56)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (16:02)

Is that in a safe place? Or could you drop me at this next hotel on the left because I think I'm going to be sick and I need to get out? It's just trying to have an idea of, OK, if you don't feel safe, you are allowed to stop the journey. And what can you do? What and how can you do that?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (16:12)

Yeah.

I think that's a good thing to point out as well is if you're on a journey and you get that sense and you're not happy, get them to stop somewhere. If they don't stop then obviously you realise you've got a massive problem. If they do, great, get out, get another cab, Uber, whatever that is. You can change your mind. stop it, I've just seen my friend. Stop, stop now. Anything like that, that'll help you in a situation that you go, that'll either reassure you that he'll stop, whoever stops,

Julie Waite (16:37)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (16:47)

If they don't, then know, that's obviously escalated to being a serious problem because they haven't done what you've asked them. So, yeah, understanding that as well and paying attention when you're in the car, what's going on around you. Like you said on the app and that, know, following where you're going. Does that look right to you? Does that make sense? If you're locally know the area, then you'll know which roads, you know, they're going to take normally. If you're not familiar with an area, then trust your sense.

Julie Waite (16:57)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (17:11)

Ask him, how long is that going to be? Yeah.

Julie Waite (17:12)

And you can watch it on the app. You can watch the route. You can watch the

route and if they're veering off the route, you know, there's loads of route planners and things like that. You can watch the route and if they're veering off the route, you can even say, you know, why aren't you taking this road or, and they might say there's traffic. Well, you have to be able to get back onto that route very quickly. And you're also letting them know that you're onto them and you're watching where they're going.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (17:25)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

And also I think it'll say on the app, won't it? How long that journey takes. You could ask before you get in, how long do think it'll take? Are there any problems? know, as a traffic. So you kind of get in a bit of information there as well. So, it should take us about 10 minutes. And then you've got an idea. Okay, 10 minutes. So looking on the map, you go kind of calculate a little bit roughly and use that to help you as well.

Julie Waite (17:49)

Yeah.

Yeah.

And there is an emergency button on the app as well that you can press. And of course, you can activate things like if you've got a Life360 app or any other personal safety app, you can activate emergency buttons on that. Or even make the phone call and say out loud, I don't feel safe driving the wrong way. Will you track me and come get me if they're not listening to you?

not taking on board what you're A few other things is about the conversation and keeping the boundaries. Like Dene said before, you don't need to talk to them, you don't need to be nice. Obviously you don't want to be rude, but if they start asking you personal questions, can shut that down quite quickly and it's about never sharing any personal information and then thinking about, you need to lie?

about where you go and who you're meeting, who's going to be there for you, are you married, have you got a partner, that kind of thing. So it's just about knowing that you don't need to be nice and you can lie in those situations.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (19:03)

Can I sum it up? That's nobody's business. That's no one's business. You know what mean? All them questions, all that. Anything about you is nobody's business. Only yours. Now if you want to divulge that, then that's up to you. But if somebody asks you a question, you don't have to answer it.

There's no obligation, there's no law says you have to answer a question just because someone says, you had a nice night, are you meeting your partner? And you can say, sorry, I'm not in the mood for talking. No, sorry, just, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (19:28)

Yeah, I've got a bit of a headache. I don't want to have a chat.

And just be confident and be firm. think that's the other thing. Confidence really deters

attackers. They've done loads of studies with criminals and about who they'd choose and the victims that they've chosen. And they're looking for an easy target. They're not looking for someone that is strong, confident, that's going to fight back, that's going to stand up for themselves. So if you get in there and you're really confident and strong and firm, it's sending the signals out that, you're not going to

you're not going to pick me, I'm not going to be the one that you choose because it's going to be very very difficult for you.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (20:06)

And it

could be part of how predators profile you. That conversation to get a sense of if you're meek and mild, you're susceptible to being asked questions and giving answers and things like that. So it could be them being generally nice and just a nice person, or it could be that deception they use to get an idea of who you are, what you're about, your persona.

Julie Waite (20:11)

and

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (20:29)

your reactions to something, if I say this, what's her reaction, what's his reaction, what their reaction is, oh okay, you know it's like breaking down the barriers if you like, know then going from that verbal to you know especially the tap on the shoulder, seeing your response, not seeing a car as you would do that maybe, but I hope you get my sense of how people can sort of break down them barriers, kind of do that bit of digging, a bit of fishing and yeah it gives them more of an idea of

Julie Waite (20:34)

Mm.

Yeah.

Mm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (20:55)

Okay, this person's a strong person, he, she, know, right, okay.

Julie Waite (21:01)

One last

tip on this part of it is never to accept any food or drink from them, even if it looks like it's brand new and hasn't been opened. Never accept any food or drink because you just don't know how that's been tampered with.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (21:11)

You

Julie Waite (21:14)

So if things were to go wrong, so for example they won't let you out and they start driving off or they stop the car, try and get in the back, what should you do in those situations? What should you do if they've started driving off, you've pointed it out, you've asked them to stop, they won't stop, you're obviously in quite a...

or a very serious situation at that point because you've made it very, you make it very clear to them, stop the car, let me out, you're going the wrong way, I'm not safe, I want you to stop and they're just not doing any of that, you're in a serious situation at that point.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (21:48)

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's quite obvious if you've asked all these things to stop to get out like you've just mentioned and they ignore that. For me, I'd have to take that as I've got a serious threat here because that person isn't doing what I asked them and I'm

I'm the customer. So yeah, it's a real tricky one, it? You know, we talked about the child locks and things like that. I get that. I understand that. But the reality is, right? Would you get out of the car if it's still doing 30 miles an hour? Might do. And I suppose some people would, some people wouldn't. But if you did, chance are you're going to get some serious injuries. So it's when do I decide that I need to be physical?

Because they won't stop they won't do what I'm telling them so that to me Be an indicator that I'm in serious harm's way and it's only it could be an only a matter of time before I'm taking somewhere I'm a remote something Potentially very bad is gonna happen to me. So Depending where you are Like I like I've said before, you know, if you somebody was trying to abduct you in a car the longer it goes worse it is statistics show that longer it goes on the worse it is so can you

crashed a car, can you do something to make sure you're still in an area where people can come and help and assist you because if a car crashes normally people come over once it's crashed and it's stopped to help and assist the people in it. So for me I would be seriously considering about physical response because all that indicators before says I'm a big problem. For me I would probably act before

Julie Waite (23:20)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (23:24)

If I'm sat behind them, obviously I can access them, can't I? So that puts me potentially in a better situation to be physical because I have the chair between me, I'm facing forward, they're facing back. If they're gonna have to come through the back, they're gonna have to go through the chairs, which presents an opportunity for me. Or if they have to stop and get out of the car to get in the back, then obviously when that car stops, I'm gonna, or potentially just before it stops, I want to be physical because I have to be physical first.

I'm not going to personally I'm not going to wait for them to get out of the car and try and get in the back seat because I've lost that opportunity where they're right in front of me they're very accessible with my hands coming forward I could do a lot of damage there still soft tissue stuff and create a chance create damage and then work out how I'm going to get out of the car and that could be a little bit of pre-thinking as well I know you can get like safety punches that you can break windows with

Julie Waite (23:56)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (24:20)

We used have him when I was in the fire brigade, you know, just punch him on the window and it shatters the window. Okay, is... Right.

Julie Waite (24:24)

We've got one actually, we've got,

I'll link the blog below, but we've got a blog with loads of different safety and self-defense tools, gadgets, alarms, all that kind of stuff. We have got on there a seatbelt cutter and window breaker tool in one, and it is only a small tool. And I think if you were doing a lot of these journeys, like if you had to travel home from work a lot, that is well worth having in your handbag because you know you could easily

Dene - Streetwise Defence (24:33)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (24:53)

break that window so and they cost like ten pounds something like that so I'll link that below

Dene - Streetwise Defence (24:54)

Yeah and it

depends how extreme you want to go, know is that being extreme apparent? No I think it's probably being little bit smart, hopefully you'll never need it, if you do you've got it. You know if you're in that moment it's driving and it won't stop and you can't open your window and you punch and shatter the windows

Julie Waite (25:09)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (25:14)

You're screaming and shouting outside the windows. Two things, you've shattered the windows. You can draw attention to yourself because you're screaming and shouting. You've punched out all the windows in the back. Back window, side windows. You've got options to get out as well. Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (25:15)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

At that point there's going to be a lot of attention. It's not like they think they can do whatever they want to do and leave you and be off. That vehicle that they're in will be identifiable very easily. I think

it's hard because you start thinking through these things and you think, am I like...

Am I like, you know, over-exaggerating and thinking I'm in a movie or something? However, if they are driving you off and you have like shouted at them and asked them to stop and these things have happened unfortunately, yes they are rare, but you you just have to look it up online and there are cases where women have been driven off somewhere and raped and murdered. So...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (25:52)

Yeah. Yeah. Peace.

Julie Waite (26:10)

there has to come

a line where you can, as a reasonable person, the law says it needs to be reasonable, proportionate and necessary. So you have shouted at them, you have said, stop the car, I want to get out. You've said it, I'm activating the alarm, I'm calling the police, you may be doing all these things and if they're still going, then you have to take some really, you have to think about taking serious action and I would be doing that. And if I haven't got the window cut to thing like you said,

and I was sitting behind them, I'd be thinking about using those physical elements of self-defense that we teach where we'd be, you know, their head is in front of you. So their eyes, their throat, yes, that means they may potentially crash the car. You'd have to make sure you've got your seatbelt on. You may get some injuries from that. But to me, that's better than then finding myself somewhere deserted.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (26:45)

You You

Julie Waite (27:01)

me against them.

you know as well things like

I saw something online where the person took out the head, you know the headrest you can press in at the sides of the headrest, took out the headrest and you've got, it's got two then big metal spikes and punctured the window with that. I saw a video of that. Whether that would work on all cars, I don't know but again it's giving yourself, you've got then a weapon that you've managed to get and it's giving yourself an opportunity and they may just think, my god this is a mad woman in the back of my car and she's got hold of the headrest, she's trying to

Dene - Streetwise Defence (27:09)

Yeah. you

Julie Waite (27:34)

smash the window with it, she's screaming, she's like I don't want to deal with this, this isn't going to be the easy attack that I was hoping for. So you've got to just do what it takes to get yourself home safely.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (27:47)

I think it's horrible

you have to speak like that because but that is the reality you can't lie to people it's happening it like the stats shown there it is happening so you've got a I feel you have to

run through these things to go what I'd actually do if I'm in that extreme position what am I what am I capable of doing what I do what I do that like we say what would you fight for who you're fighting for what is your ability yeah you could get the headrest off and great you've got some form of weapon but your mind and these your mind and your hands are the key to whatever physical response because you've always got them mindset your understanding your ability the knowledge you've got

Julie Waite (28:00)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (28:23)

And to go that what if game, what if this happens, if that, and what am I gonna do? And it's uncomfortable, but it's a lot better to sit with your friends and go, well, what would you do? Well, let's role play that, what happens if this happens? And then I do that and then it happens. And then you've expanded your knowledge on the situation that is uncomfortable anyway, but if something was to happen, you've kind of got some pre-plan there, you've got some idea of what I'd do, rather than being in that situation where you'd probably hit a flat panic.

Julie Waite (28:23)

Yeah.

Mm.

Mm.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (28:49)

not going to say you're not going to panic and get adrenaline, but you've got something in your subconscious that you've already walked through, talked through with your friends, got different ideas from them, and you've got something in there that you can actually recall if you're ever in that horrible situation. So it's being realistically looking at it like that and going, if you have to be physical, it could be an extreme case. So going, I'm not comfortable with that, I get that. But again, it's your personal safety. Nobody else is there.

Julie Waite (29:04)

I think.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (29:16)

it's relying on yourself in that situation, yes you can bring people panic apps and that great and they'll have their place and they can help but it is you that needs to look after yourself because potentially there's nobody else there so it's uncomfortable but you've got to realize that's what is happening and what would we do, what would you do?

Julie Waite (29:31)

Yeah.

I think a lot of women are scared of what if I freeze in these different situations and that is where thinking things through, talking it through, listening to podcasts like this where you get different options because you might not have thought of all these options, you might just think, I'm trapped in the back of a car and he's driving me away somewhere. When you think about it like that you could feel...

that could feel very scary but then when you start going, okay I'm trapped in the back of a car but I know that I could grab his eyes, I could grab his throat, I could try and smash the window with this, I could set the alarm off, could call the police, I could shout, could scream, could like,

Dene - Streetwise Defence (30:11)

You

Julie Waite (30:12)

once you know you've got all these different things that you could do it's not like your brain is then rushing in that moment of adrenaline rushing to come up with a solution because you've already got the solutions there in your mind.

something that just occurred to me then that I've never thought about before. If you had a personal alarm which is something you know I have, my daughters have, I recommend everyone gets them not that they can not that they can fight back for you but they can be part of your self-defense, activate the alarm and put it on his ear. I mean those are those are alarms are seriously loud.

you know, get the alarm, put it on his ear, he's not going to be able to drive with that. It's going to be very distracting. The ones that we recommend, again, that blog that I link, we've got one that we recommend, has a strobing bright light and it is blinding. So it's just something like that. If you feel like, my God, I don't know if I could grab someone's eyes or throat.

you know, if you don't feel like you could physically do that, okay, get that, put it in his ear, put it in his eyes, that is going to have a distracting effect on him.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (31:19)

I

think on the physical side, as I've seen when we train people

share the knowledge, what are you fighting for? know, so I've seen some very, I met some super nice people and you ask them a question and you see a change in them. know, moms, I always say, momma lionneses, I've met some really nice people and you suddenly say, what would you do for your children? Wow. You see the change in them. They suddenly go from this lovely, nice person to, you know, a warrior, you know, know, that's,

That's the point, that's the trigger, that's the switch they have. It's like, what would you be fighting for? Who do you, like I said, who needs you? Who have you got to see? Who depends on you? Who do you depend on? Kids, family, my dog, my cat, whatever that is. And that's a massive focus for doing things that potentially you wouldn't do normally because you're a good person. But in an extreme situation, understanding what you're fighting for can be massively powerful because that can...

Julie Waite (32:11)

and

Dene - Streetwise Defence (32:15)

make you do extraordinary things but also push you on when in a normal state you might not do so. So I think it's important to look at that as well because that can be the bit where that helps you go from an uncomfortable state to realizing I might have to be physical and your capabilities and why I'm doing this. I don't want to do it but if that's the difference between getting home to feed my dog, my cat, seeing my kids then

I think that's an important one to look at and address and understand.

Julie Waite (32:43)

So before we go on to the next point, just on the self-defense, the physical and the mindset and all of that, if you do want to learn self-defense, we have got online courses and they start from as little as £24 for a one hour course where you can watch all the demonstrations of the physical. You can learn about the mindset, the preparation, the avoidance, the gut instinct. There is loads of value in there. And if you don't know how you would defend yourself physically, then you

can't answer that question what would I do if someone grabbed me what would I do if I had to fight someone off then it's well worth having a look at those over on the website StreetwiseDefence.com. So just coming to the end if someone doesn't have their own car what what do you think is the safest way of getting home at night?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (33:29)

Good question. Looking at your options, where you are, what you're doing as always, what's available to you, is it somebody who's a designated driver, trust that is responsible for taking everybody home, is there any buses, trains, anybody, family member, boyfriend, girlfriend, partner?

pick you up. Looking at all the options and actually thinking which one is potentially safest and which one is going to work best for you.

Julie Waite (33:54)

I don't think there's any one option that is the safe option. There's no simple answer to this. Because it all depends on where you are, who you get, whether in some cases the train might be safe, in some cases the tube might be safe, in some cases it might be an Uber or a black cab.

It's about always analysing the situation that you're in and picking the safest option for you. And hopefully with all the tips that we've shared today, that will help. The one thing I would say is never hail a taxi on the street unless of course it is the licence like Black Cab in London, for example, because you just don't know who you're getting into. Even if you've got people saying, I'm an Uber driver.

you know some of the cases that are looked at some of the headlines that are looked at of women being attacked were where they've got into what they thought was an uber someone just pulling up and saying I'm an uber you know you need a lift and they weren't and then you know something really bad happens so it's if you can do that preparation in advance that is going to make you a lot safer

Dene - Streetwise Defence (34:45)

You

Yeah, definitely. think looking at what you think is the safest option that's available. Great. If it isn't, what are your other options? And also having a bit of a backup plan. If something happens and suddenly you can't get a lift, then what I do.

just as a backup to go from every night situation and the train does broken down doesn't arrive or whatever or the bus is late or broken down. Uber drive doesn't turn up. What is my alternative case that ever happened? So then at least you've got something subconscious that you've got there. Okay, well I do have another option. I've given it some thought. I know what I need to do.

Julie Waite (35:29)

So just to sum up then I want to give you a few key takeaways to make this actionable. First one is preparation. So making sure you know all the safety features in the app and that you're using all of those. Book in advance if you can. The second one is about controlling your space. So sitting behind the driver, making sure you're watching the route, making sure you're in control of the conversation, whatever conversation there is. Remember you don't need to be nice and you can lie to

give yourself that sense of security. Then the third one is really trust in your gut and act in early. Don't leave it too late. Be confident with how you react and with what you tell them you want them to do. And just know that you've got every right to defend yourself and to get home safely. So I hope this information has been helpful to you. If it has, please subscribe. Please leave a review because that helps more people find this information.

and until next time, stay safe.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (36:25)

And please share it as well.