Americans take a myriad of safety precautions each day to prevent victimization, a costly and often time-consuming practice. Most of what we know about precautionary measures comes from the fear of crime literature. Previous studies typically examine precautionary measures in relation to fear of crime and ask respondents about behaviors they engaged in or avoided retroactively. Our research team put precautionary measures at the forefront by creating a virtual reality (VR) subway station where 105 participants entered a subway station, selected items to take with them on a train and selected a bench to wait for their train. The items included traditional precautionary measures (pepper spray, knife) and everyday items (cell phone, book, headphones, car keys). We also placed VR characters on a bench and asked participants to select a bench near or far from the characters. Participants were asked to explain their decision-making process. We learned that individuals engaged in avoidance and protective behaviors and our results found the decision-making process in the selection of these measures were complex and unique. The results of our study can help public safety agencies design public spaces so that individuals feel safer in these spaces.

美国人每天采取无数的安全预防措施来防止受害，这是一种成本高昂且往往耗时的做法。我们对预防措施的了解大部分来自对犯罪文献的恐惧。以前的研究通常会检查与犯罪恐惧相关的预防措施，并询问受访者他们追溯或避免的行为。我们的研究团队将预防措施放在首位，创建了一个虚拟现实 (VR) 地铁站，105 名参与者进入地铁站，选择要随身携带的物品上火车，并选择一个长凳等待火车。这些物品包括传统的预防措施（胡椒喷雾、小刀）和日常用品（手机、书籍、耳机、车钥匙）。我们还将 VR 角色放在长凳上，并要求参与者选择靠近或远离角色的长凳。参与者被要求解释他们的决策过程。我们了解到，个人会采取回避和保护行为，我们的结果发现选择这些措施的决策过程是复杂而独特的。我们的研究结果可以帮助公共安全机构设计公共空间，使个人在这些空间中感到更安全。