Danger ahead? The impact of fear of crime on people’s recreational use of nonmotorised shared-use routes

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the incidence of actual and perceived victimisation in people's recreational use of nonmotorised shared-use routes. Using the findings from eight focus groups, we show that, despite encountering very few conflictual situations when on shared-use routes, the fear of accidents and assaults has a significant impact on some people in some environments. The findings lend support to broader theorisations about people's insecurity when outside the home, where fear is an increasingly systemic reaction to the ways in which understandings of the public domain are shifting.