PERSONAL SAFETY GUIDE
The following is included in this website to provide some useful pointers to personal safety (thankfully borrowed from http://www.kravmaga-eastlondon.com).
AVOIDANCE- Obviously avoid being alone late at night in dangerous areas. Even if in a group of people you can get trouble in some places at daytime as well as night; it can happen in good areas too so the statement of the obvious isn’t that useful in these circumstances, and sometimes there’s some stuff worth seeing and doing in dodgy areas so you have to go there. The following provides some tips re avoiding trouble beyond the obvious.
1. Look confident.
This can be tough but human predators are just like their counterparts in the animal world: they’ll pick on a target they believe to be easy prey. You look confident by, inter alia:
* walking purposefully with your head held high, observing that which is happening around you
* having smart and tidy clothes and an all-round neat appearance, these make you appear more powerful and less victim-like to a potential attacker.
* wearing black or very dark clothes: in our culture people associate black with power, confidence and a little bit of danger; this goes for predators too and can help put them off.
If you’re not a naturally confident person – and many of you reading this will not be – the above can be very difficult. I get annoyed with self-defence manuals that glibly recite the mantras about strong, self-confident bearing without giving any indication as to how you can achieve a convincing imitation of this whilst being actually pretty scared. Some suggestions follow;
* Get to a good self-defence school where you can pick up some tips early on about defending yourself.
* Look for a good supportive instructor who encourages rather than gets off by telling the class that they’re not very good.
* When you’re out , think about the successes you’ve had in the class, how you knocked that big guy holding the pad back on his heels with a single punch, how the perfectly executed groin-kick would have put the other guy down of you hadn’t pulled it at the last minute, how you got up the ground so quickly when they were trying to keep you there.
* Before you take up any challenge, whether it be doing an exam, a presentation or walking down the street unmolested, think about anything that makes you feel good about yourself, either good things that you have done and are proud of or of these people that love you and value you as a person. Every decent person has a very important value to every other decent person; you are one of those people so be aware of it, feel it show it, and you will greatly reduce the chance of your being a victim.
2. Street Positioning and Strategy
Walk on the outside of the pavement, less chance of opportunist attacker grabbing you and pinning you to a wall. Also, re flight from this position, the road offers an option albeit a dangerous one. Run along the side of the traffic first rather than straight into it, shout and try to attract motorists’ attention, when you see the chance, try to cross the road. An attacker is unlikely to pursue in these circumstances.
Remain alert to all dangers and adjust accordingly. Example, a couple of days ago I was carrying a large heavy bag through Stratford on the way to a lesson and had to turn down a rough looking backstreet to get to the customer’s house. With the heavy bag I feel more vulnerable than usual and the area is known for street attacks. There were a couple of unsavoury looking young men on the corner wearing hoods – by no means all young men who wear hoods up are potential attackers/thieves, but many of the latter do so to avoid identification from cc tv, so be aware – rather than go straight down the street I walked on and found an alternative route. Don’t take any chances you don’t have to. Also, if carrying a large bag in a dangerous area – take a cab. It might cost a bit more but is worth it, as predators love people who have encumbrances that stop them from fighting or running away.
Give corners a wide berth, whether you be on the street or in a multi-storey car park, walk around corners as far away from them as you can.
On public transport, either stand or get an aisle seat near the exit; if trouble walks onto your carriage in any form, change carriages as soon as you can. On a bus, move away as best as you can, this is easier if you stand near an exit or sit by the aisle.
3. Don’t Give them an Excuse.
Be aware and be observant but avoid eye-contact with people passing you, some young guys – particularly those with drink inside them – can take eye-contact as a challenge. If you walk past a crowd and some of them give you lip or jostle you slightly, don’t stop to give them your best one-liner riposte or jostle them back. Keep on walking briskly forward in an untroubled fashion. It can be very hard to do this, particularly for men, but what is the point of having a go back?
You run far more chance this way of ending up in a physical confrontation, you’ll probably be outnumbered and fighting of any type is dangerous- only do it if you have to! So what if some low-life thinks he’s put one over you? He has nothing in his life- don’t endanger your safety for his sake. (I’m assuming all potential attackers are male here, I realise that this is not 100% true but the vast majority of them are, so for ease of expression I will continue with this.) Back to top
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