DO you ever read a crime report and think: “That could have been me”?

I felt that way last week when I heard about the woman who had bleach thrown in her face outside the Vue cinema on Kirkstall Road in Leeds.

She was attacked in front of her husband and two children 15 minutes after she had told a group of teenagers to be quiet during a screening of the latest Harry Potter film.

Of course, for legal reasons, it would be wrong for me to comment on this ongoing case.

Except to say that it makes me stop and think what might happen if I were ever to challenge a petty act of anti-social behaviour.

The thought occurs to me because I quite often see people acting inconsiderately. And I never say anything because it’s easier to grit my teeth than to open my mouth.

When some kids sitting behind me on the bus are blasting out techno music on their mobiles I just let it go. I don’t turn round and say what I want to say, which is: “Look, even if your taste in music wasn’t so appalling, listening to it at such a loud volume on the bus is inconsiderate to other passengers, so stop it.”

But I say nothing, probably from some ridiculous fear that one of the teenagers has a knife.

And, when some lads on the train are swearing in front of children, I never tell them to stop, though maybe I should.

Or maybe I’m right to be cautious. After all, a few rude words or some terrible techno will bother my ears a lot less than a knife would trouble my chest.

So I say nothing and everyone else on the train or bus says nothing. So nothing gets done, and public transport becomes a little more unpleasant for all of us.

I have a friend who takes the opposite view, who always pulls people up on their bad behaviour. When she hears someone swearing or saying something racist in a public place she confronts them on it and asks them why they’re behaving that way.

“Don’t you do that?” she asked me last year.

I replied that I didn’t because I’m male and therefore much more likely than she is to be punched in the face for my troubles.

And also because, unlike my friend, I’m from Belfast where avoiding confrontations with people you don’t know is very much recommended.

I think my friend is the exception. Most of us just look the other way when someone is acting the eejit even if that person is half our size.

A few years ago David Cameron created a bit of a stir when he blamed the Government for creating a “walk on the other side” society where people don’t challenge bad behaviour. It’s a bit rich coming from a man who idolises a woman who once said there was “no such thing as society.” But I think he had a point none the less.

This country would be a nicer, a more pleasant place if people did challenge rudeness and antisocial behaviour. At the very least it would make people think twice before playing their techno music at the back of the bus.

But, when you see what happened to that poor woman in Leeds, you realise why so many of us are reluctant to speak up.