On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 23:46:16 -0000, "___" wrote:


"Alan" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 20:29:23 -0000, "___" wrote:

London is such a dangerous place now just wondering How Melbourne
compares ?


They are both big cities. Melbourne isn't as big as London - population
is just under 4 million - but it's no village.

In any big city the traveler should take some reasonable precautions for
safety. However, I drove cabs in Melbourne on the night shift for 17
years; I was never physically assaulted although I did have half-a-dozen
fairly scary moments. Not bad when you consider that I carried well over
50,000 passengers in that time.

If security is a major worry for you, then stay near the bright lights
and avoid the back streets of some suburbs after midnight (St Kilda,
Footscray, Springvale). There are no aggressive street beggars like
Madrid or Rome, but you may have problems with the occasional drunk if
you are near some discos or pubs after 10 pm.

But, bearing in mind that last year I was able to compare with many
other cities, including London, I would rate Melbourne and Sydney as two
of the safest major cities after dark in the world.

Thanks for the info. Sydney I thought was quite bad though ? London seems
to have a stabbing or murder every week now... I thought Melbourne was twice
the size of London ?



If you think about that sort of thing you'd never leave your front door.
For example, I went to NYC last year - based on your logic no-one should
ever go there.

Think about the true statistics. We're talking about modern civilized
western cities here, not Baghdad or Kabul.

I travelled over 20 countries last year, driving through most of them
via back roads and country villages. Among other minor cities we visited
LA, SF, New Orleans, DC, NYC, Madrid, Rome, Athens, Venice, Vienna,
Prague, Munich, Brussels, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Paris, Dublin,
Edinburgh, London and Singapore. The only language I can speak is Oz
English. The nearest I got to being assaulted was when I couldn't resist
my ex-cab-driver urges and gave a tail-gating Italian truck-driver the
finger near Rome. As long as you use common sense and make an attempt to
meet local mores you should be safer than walking home from the pub in
the dark in your own town.


Cheers, Alan
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