Every year, thousands of people become victims of assault and, with the number victims increasing as time goes by, it is more important than ever to take a few precautions to improve your safety; especially if you are a woman. After all, an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure when you are faced with dangerous situations.

One of the first ways to increase your safety is to use a little common sense. It may seem a little inconvenient at times to use good judgment regarding which places you go and when you travel, but the extra caution can make a huge difference in your level of safety. For example, in almost every town or city there are certain neighborhoods that are safer than others and, whether you are passing through a “safe” neighborhood or not, you are less likely to become a victim of assault if you are traveling during daylight hours rather than the darker hours during the night. If, for some reason, you do have to go out in the evening, keep in mind that another way to increase your safety is to travel with more than one person because there is safety in numbers.

If you don’t have the luxury of taking someone with you whenever you exercise, run errands, and travel, you can also increase your personal safety by investing some of your time in self defense courses. In many communities, you can find a good class for a small fee or even for free and the things you learn may be effective enough to save your life in a bad situation.

At the very least, you can invest in safety products like whistles, alarms, and pepper spray that are designed to call in assistance and keep predators at bay. Since many of those products are small, affordable, and light weight, it can be easy to buy them and carry them on your person with your keys, purse, or pockets. If you want to take them with you while running, hiking, or biking, Velcro straps can make them even more portable by eliminating the need for pockets altogether.

In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be a need for so many safety precautions, but statistics show that it is always better to be safe than sorry as far as personal safety is concerned. So, start improving your safety or the safety of the ones you love by implementing the advice above and you may be able to avoid some nasty experiences.