The Impact of Design and Placement of ATM Deployments on Perceived Safety in India

Abstract

The recent surge in crimes at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) deployments has resulted in an increase in the fear for safety for those using ATMs in India. These crimes are caused by several factors including, but not limited to, poor design and poor layout. On reviewing existing literature, it is evident that most studies on these crimes, their prevention and regulations, focus primarily on physical and mechanical security measures. Even though the physical surrounding of an ATM is known to strongly affect a user's experience and perception of safety, studies addressing this are few. This paper examines the impact of factors like visibility, lighting, access control, target hardening, surrounding land use and zoning on a user's perception of personal safety. A photo based study of 30 ATM deployments was conducted to evaluate the perceived safety and security of Indian ATM users. The results of the study confirm the importance of lighting. In addition, we demonstrate the impact of visibility, surrounding land use and quality of waiting space on perceived personal security while using an ATM unit.