Sustainable modes and violence: Perceived safety and exposure to crimes on trips to and from a Brazilian university campus

Introduction: There is a general sense that violence and security perceptions influence the use of sustainable travel modes. In this context, this research characterizes violence and security perceptions around a Brazilian university campus. The primary objective of the research was to identify how violence-related aspects influenced travel mode choice on trips to the campus, especially the impact of those aspects on users of sustainable transportation modes. Method: This characterization was conducted using results from an online survey conducted in early 2016 and maps with geocoded points from reported answers. Decision Tree algorithms were run to explore the relation of the users' background (such as victims of violence or not, and perceived insecurity on campus) and characteristics of their routes to campus considering their decision to use sustainable modes or not. Results: Crimes were most frequent on weeknights and, in relative terms, fewer women declared feeling safe compared to men. Moreover, it was identified that locations with high incidences of violence were perceived as insecure. Affiliation to the university and the occurrence of violence had a greater impact on mode choice compared to security perception. The distance to the campus was relevant to mode choice only on routes that were perceived as safe. Conclusions: Using sustainable travel modes had a greater occurrence on routes with the highest insecurity perception, and on routes with high incidences of violence. It is counter-intuitive to assume that numerous walking trips are a consequence of violence. Hence, the results may indicate the opposite, i.e. users of non-motorized modes attract the attention of criminals. Therefore, increased surveillance on regions with high participation of non-motorized modes is necessary to prevent users from shifting to motorized modes.