Buddy System

wake up sheeple

Inspiration

Safety in numbers Unfortunately, college campuses have notoriously become grounds for predators to rob, abduct, and sexually assault students who are walking home late at night. Initiatives promoting walking with others have widely been pushed by universities, but students inevitably find themselves in situations where they are in libraries late at night without any mode of reliable transportation to take them home. Moreover, many don’t have an accessible friend to walk home with, and are forced to make the decision to walk home by themselves.

Currently, there are apps that exist that have alarm systems in place if you don’t read your destination in a timely manner, but they exist for if you are by yourself. Safety measures that universities have today to reduce walking home at night include cab services and late-night bus systems. However, the late night bus system doesn’t run all night and the queues for the cab services often take an hour from when you call to when you get home on busy nights.

Facts

Most crimes against students (93%) occurred off campus; 72% of those crimes occurred at night. The majority of US colleges, if not all, recommend that students do not walk by themselves at night.

What it does

Purpose: To reduce college students' tendency to walk home by themselves at night.

The Buddy System connects students with buddies to walk home with at night to and from study spaces. The student has complete autonomy over who, where, and when they want to request someone to walk home with. On the front-end, students can request when they want to leave the study space. Moreover, they specify where they want to depart, where their general destination is, if they preferred a male or female to home with, and how many they want in their herd to head home with. This creates a safer environment where students have an option to walk home with someone versus walking home alone.

Features

Only students are able to use it (Verification by Netbadge or official school portal) User can prefer to walk home with a male or female Thumbs Up ratings, an indicator of how successful your prospective buddy may be Your address is kept private Standby setting where you wait for someone else to go home with “Buddy’s Home!” button to verify with someone that you’ve arrived safely at destination

Advantages

Less likely to be preyed upon by predators You have the freedom to walk home when you want without feeling alone and scared Not completely dependent on safe-ride or bus system Create a safer community in college campus Can make new friends with buddy Free