Tips from the Safety Chick

By Lisa McLaughlin

Kathleen Baty calls herself the Safety Chick. She has made it her mission to get women to think smart about keeping safe. Baty found her calling after being stalked for eight years by a former acquaintance who eventually attempted to kidnap her at knifepoint. After an 11-hour police standoff, Baty escaped. She was determined never to be a victim again. Her book A Girl's Gotta Do What a Girl's Gotta Do (Rodale) offers plans for staying safe while working, shopping, traveling, surfing the Net or going on a date. To avoid being dosed with a date-rape drug, she advises, keep your cocktail within sight at all times, and use Drink Safe Coasters, which can instantly apply a litmus-like test to a drink that may have been tampered with.

While some of her tips are extreme--she advises women that "the best way to handle the phone when you are alone is not at all. Put the answering machine on"--most are sensible. For a safe home, she lists options for securing doors but also suggests putting Vaseline on drainpipes near windows, making it more difficult for a burglar to shimmy up them. --By Lisa McLaughlin