Your first and most important personal safety tip would be staying alert to your surroundings.
You cannot just walk down the sidewalk with your head down not paying attention to what is around you today.
You can blindly just walk right into trouble.
While walking during the day or night, be looking at the things and people around you.
Do not stare at some one, but looking them in the eye for just an instant could keep you from being attacked.
They know that you know what their face looks like and would not want someone being able to give an accurate description of them to the police.
Even pay attention to where you walk on the sidewalk.
Have the traffic coming towards you and walk closer to the curb than the buildings.
This will help protect you in two ways.
First no one can just grab you from a doorway and pull you inside the building with out first having to step out into the sidewalk, second you will see if a car is going to pull along side the curb in front of you.
You can step away and not get pulled into a car this way.
If you have traffic coming at you from your back, you may never know if a car is coming up on you are not.
You could be grabbed from behind and pulled into the car.
Learn to use the reflective things around you also.
Store windows, car side mirrors on parked cars are just some of the things that will let you know what is behind you without having to turn around and look.
Have the mind set to be very watchful.
And if something looks wrong, turn around or go the opposite way to avoid it.
It is always better to be safe than sorry.
If someone does try to grab you, run towards the biggest crowd that you see and make a lot of noise by yelling.
By following some simple personal security tips, you can help yourself be safer.
It is much better to be aware than on the daily news just as another crime statistic.