A new iPhone app has been launched to improve student safety by alerting friends or family if an individual fails to arrive safely at their destination.
The LookOut Call app is designed to allow individuals to record a message detailing their plans or route and the time they expect it will take them to get home from a night out for example.
An alarm is then set for the time when the student is expected to arrive at their destination. If the student does not disable the alarm when they arrive safely and does not key in the code when the timer runs out and the alarm goes off, then friends and family will automatically be alerted to the situation.
The app will call friends and family members listed as responders and allow them to listen to the student’s message regardless of whether the student’s phone is out of battery, lost or even destroyed.
The technology is already widely used commercially to help improve the safety of lone workers, but individuals will now able to download the app for a subscription fee paid over a period of time between 30 and 180 days.
Charlie Turnbull, a 1st year History student, told The Student "it's a shame you've got to pay for this, because it's a really good idea - people aren't as likely to use it. Personal safety is really important at nighttime and we need all the hlp we can get."
Its launch comes at a time when safety is a particular concern for Edinburgh students following two recent attacks on women near to the university.
In the past month two women have been sexually assaulted in separate incidents whilst passing through the Meadows.
A group of students have already taken action to improve the safety of students walking home in the dark and have organised a walking bus initiative to ensure that students do not have to walk through the Meadows and across the Bruntsfield Links alone at night.
Each walking bus has at least one male and one female chaperone and leaves from the Hugh Robson Building throughout the night until 3.30am. To arrange a chaperone students are asked to call 07925 580 813.
source=studentnewspaper.org
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