How the SafeWalk UK Safety Score works
SafeWalk UK compares walking routes between two UK places and gives each one a Safety Score from 0 to 100. It is an experimental risk indicator built from public data, not a guarantee of safety. Here is exactly what goes into the number.
1. Recent street-level crime near the route
The app fetches street-level crime from data.police.uk for the area around your route (about three months of data, allowing for the publication delay). Only crimes within roughly 200 metres of the route count, and crimes closer to the route count more than those further away.
Each crime category carries a weight:
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Violent crime, robbery, weapons | 10 |
| Theft from the person | 7 |
| Burglary | 6 |
| Criminal damage | 5 |
| Anti-social behaviour, public order | 4 |
| Vehicle crime, drugs, other theft | 3 |
| Bicycle theft, other | 2 |
| Shoplifting | 1 |
2. Time of night
You can pick a start time (now, 18:00, 21:00, 23:00, 01:00 or 03:00). Risk is scaled by an hourly multiplier, from about 0.5× in the morning up to about 2.2× around midnight, based on patterns in Home Office crime statistics. This is why the same route can score differently after dark.
3. Lighting, CCTV and safe spaces
- Lighting is estimated from OpenStreetMap street-lamp density plus the type of road (main roads are usually lit; paths and alleys often are not).
- CCTV and safe spaces (open late-night shops, petrol stations, pubs, pharmacies, hospitals, police) come from OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API.
4. Combining the signals
Three warning signs are tracked: a poor crime score, poor lighting, and no nearby CCTV. One alone has a limited effect, but two or three together lower the score more heavily, and a route that is both unlit and unmonitored cannot score high just because little crime was recorded there. Longer routes also receive a small distance penalty (up to 15%) because you are exposed for longer, and routes that follow A-roads show a warning.
What the score cannot tell you
- Crime data is monthly, delayed and anonymised to nearby points.
- OpenStreetMap coverage varies: a sparsely mapped area does not necessarily have no lighting or CCTV.
- Scotland is not covered, because data.police.uk does not include it.
- The score does not predict what will happen on your walk. Use your own judgement.
See our data sources for the full list, and night walking safety tips for practical advice.