Hi all. I considered putting this in the Women's Self-Defense (or "Defence," for all the Brits on this forum ), but I decided it's just as useful for men. I took an SD class at one pt. in college, and it focused primarily on situational awareness/ avoidance type things. Unfortunately I've forgotten most of it, and I can't find my notebook, but here are a few things I remember: Have two kinds of lights on the outside of your house, the motion detector kind, and the kind that automatically comes on when the sun goes down and goes off when it comes back up. If you're walking down the street & someone makes you feel uncomfortable, cross to the other side of the street. Trust your gut & don't worry about offending the person you're trying to get away from. Don't keep your ID attached to your keychain (this was a fairly common thing for people at my college to do). If someone takes it, they have your name AND your keys, and it's not that hard to find out where someone lives if you know their name. (I would add that if you have a work ID with your name on it, only wear it at work, not on the bus, etc., for similar reasons). Always be aware of your environment-- makes it more difficult for people to "come out of nowhere." Practice remembering physical descriptions of people and car license plate #s in regular everyday life, so you can do so if you get attacked & have to make a police report. Well, that's all I can remember for now. Anybody else got some? Oh, and of course, don't get intoxicated with strangers.
You have a lot of excellent points..Let me add one...If they carry pepper spray do not have it attached to the rest of your keys, keep it seperate..That way if surprised it's not attached to the keys you're attempting to open your vehicle with..
