Public Health, Safety, and Welfare
Students will feel more comfortable traveling at night with an increase in the sense of safety on college campuses. Our goal is to have a solution that eases the fear students feel when they are walking at night as well as minimizing the chance that anything would physically happen and to have measures in place in case a distressing situation does occur.
Addressing this problem will also shed light on women’s personal safety. Through research and surveys, it is clear that predominately women feel unsafe walking at night due to perceived threats. Our solution to this problem will allow more women to feel comfortable on college campuses. Hopefully, as a result of looking at this problem, more research and information on personal safety will come to light which will create safer communities on every college campus. Read more about our supporting data!
Global Impacts
Currently, we are focused on implementing a solution that is capable of working on Lafayette’s campus. Looking at expanding the scope of our project, addressing the modern issues of the blue light system and the safety of people walking could be applied to campuses across the country and the world. Ideally, we would create a solution that is capable of this expansion and is not restricted to only working at Lafayette’s campus.
Cultural Impacts
Night travel is more dangerous than daytime travel. Based on our survey of Lafayette students, the large majority of respondents commented that they have felt most unsafe when traveling alone at night. For college students, whose primary mode of transportation is walking, walking alone at night is a regular occurrence, whether it be walking to/from class, to/from dining halls, to/from friends places, etc. Additionally, as the standard school year is centered around winter when there is less daylight, walking in the dark when students feel most unsafe becomes unavoidable. Our solution will help address the concern of an individual’s safety and allow individuals to feel safer on their college campuses.
Social Impacts
With the goal of making students safer when having to walk, this will make students feel more comfortable when having to gather to different club meetings, events, meals, or night classes. It is inevitable for students to have to walk at night and it will be a relief to know that there is a solution that ensures someone’s safety.
Environmental Impacts
Even though environmental sustainability is not a focus of our problem, we would like to consider it, as any contribution to helping the planet’s climate crisis is worth considering. Taking sustainability into consideration will help create a solution that does not leave a negative mark on the planet.
Economic Impacts
Currently, blue light systems cost $20,000 to construct and $1,000 a year to maintain[1]. These numbers make sense since they have to constantly power a light and phone calling capabilities. For the blue light system to have such a low usage and many students being unaware of the location of blue lights, this feels like wasted money that could be better used. We believe that the blue light system should still exist, but in its modern-day form it is heavily underutilized. In addressing the safety of students, we hope to create a solution that could use this money in a way that has a larger contribution to making students safer.
References
[1] T. Mock, “Emergency blue light box alternatives,” Rave Mobile Safety, 29-Mar-2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/blog/do-emergency-blue-light-boxes-work-history-campus-safety-tool/. [Accessed: 07-Dec-2022].