Carjacking Facts:

• The Department of Justice reports that there are about 49,000 per year.
• Ninety-three percent occur in cities or the suburbs.
• 92% of carjackings are committed when the victim is alone in their car.
• 90% of carjackings involved the use of a weapon.
• Most happen near the victims home or work.

Approaching your Vehicle
When approaching your vehicle awareness is your best weapon.

• Stay alert – Stay alert to what is going on around you
• Keep your keys ready when walking out to your car.
• Look around in your car before getting in
• Watch out for people who are loitering, asking for direction, looking for money or cigarettes, or handing out fliers.
• Trust you instincts – If something seems out of place go back to where you came from  or quickly get in your vehicle and lock the doors

While Driving
Your best line of defense when you are driving is to make it as hard as possible for criminals to enter your vehicle

• Keep your doors locked, windows up and sun roofs closed.
• When coming to a stop leave enough room between you and the vehicle in front to be able to quickly maneuver around the vehicles if trouble should arise
• Driving in the center lane can make it harder for criminals to box you in, and can give you more avenues to escape.

When reaching your destination:

• Park in a well lit area near the buildings entrance and around other vehicles.
• Avoid parking near wooded areas, large vans and trucks, or anything that hides your visibility.
• Never leave valuables in plain view for anyone to see.
• Look around before you get out of your vehicle. It may also be a good idea to make a loop around the parking lot to check our the situation before parking.

If someone attempts to jack your car:

• Never get in the car with the criminal, it’s better to lose the car than to lose your life.
• If they have a gun… Run. Statistics show that if you run you have somewhere around a 90% chance of being safe. If you get in the vehicle you probably have a 100% chance of something bad happening.
• If you are forced to drive, one option could be to buckle up and consider crashing your car near a busy intersection and hope for the car jacker to fly into the window. Then get out of the car and run like hell.

Related Posts:

• Defending yourself against multiple attackers

Your response to a Emergency situation:

The worst thing that you can do is lose your will to survive. Statistics show that 95% of people who die with psychological trauma do so within the first three days. How you respond in a emergency situation will determine your chances of survival.

Common Reactions to a disaster:

• ANXIETY: Anxiety & Panic are both a direct result of fearing what may happen.  Once panic sets in you must quickly realize that  you are the one feeding the fire. Take a deep breath, tell yourself that your thoughts can’t hurt you, and start to take make a plan of action.
• DEPRESSION: Depression in a survival situation can be a killer. Once depression sets in it becomes almost impossible to make rational decisions. You must do everything in your power to keep your mind focused on positive thoughts.  Take time to congratulate yourself for even small victories.
• HYPERACTIVITY: In the face of danger some people may become easily agitated. When this happens the victim can become easily distracted and can take actions that will be detrimental to their survival.
• ANGER – Anger is a common response to an emergency situation. In some cases anger can be your friend. It can give you extra strength and alertness when confronting an immediate danger. In other cases it can cloud your judgment and force you to make irrational decisions.
• GUILT – It is very common for survivors to feel a sense of guilt for surviving. Often times a survivor will dwell on what they could have done for others or blame themselves for the situation.

COPING STRATEGIES:

• TRAIN – People who are prepared and know what to expect during an emergency situation are far less likely to fall into the traps listed above. Make sure you train with your equipment so you will feel completely comfortable during a real situation.
• Read, Read and then Read some more.  Knowledge is the key to survival, knowing what to do when the stuff hits the fan will help you keep a level head in any situation.
• Practice Relaxation Techniques – Learning how to relax in a stressful situation is crucial to your survival. Deep breathing techniques, Yoga, and other relaxation techniques are valuable skills that you should learn.

Things to add to your survival bag or kit:

• Carry pictures of family or loved ones in your survival kit
• Carry a survival bible
• Having away of entertaining yourself can help you keep your mind sharp, and your moral up. Playing cards can be a great addition to your kit.

Turn on the evening news and you will be bombarded with stories of innocent people being attacked, robbed, and killed on a daily basis. Now throw in an emergency situation or natural disaster and the lunatics of the world will swarm the streets like roaches  looking for innocent victims to target.

One of the biggest dangers that you will face in an urban survival situation is an attack from multiple people. Anyone who is serious about survival needs to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones from a violent attack.

So what can you do when attacked by multiple people?

Access the situation

Do you have an escape route? This isn’t about looking cool and it’s not time to be Mr. Tough Guy.
Survival does not mean fighting,  if you have an escape route take it now. 

Can you talk your way out of the situation? Talking your way out of an attack is more art than science and takes a considerable amount of street smarts to pull off.  But there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind.

• Telling a group that’s ready to attack to F off does nothing to diffuse the situation.
• Remember you are probably dealing with people that are borderline insane and have nothing to lose. Stay calm & don’t show any fear.
• Apologize – Sometimes these morons are just trying to look cool in front of the group. Apologizing will allow them to look like the big tough guy without having to pound in your skull.

If you must fight then here are some tips that may help.

If you have no other options and your life is in jeopardy then you need to know how to protect yourself. *Remember your best option is to try to avoid the fight, the following actions should only be taken if your life in in immediate danger.

Watch the groups body language -  Watching the groups body language will give you a clue to when they are ready to attack. The following actions may be a signs of an attack.

• Watch for the assailant to do something like removing a hat or shirt.
• Your attacker may start to make erratic movements such as rubbing his nose, pushing his hair back or clenching his teeth.
• Watch the groups eyes, they may start to glance at each other for ques on when to attack.
• Watch the attackers fists, often times they will tighten them right before they are ready to attack you.

Weapons - Quickly scan your surroundings. Beer bottles, tree branches, garbage cans, bricks, and even the pen in your pocket can  used as improvised weapons in an emergency situation.

Psychology - Fighting a group does not always mean having to fight the whole group, in fact your goal is to fight as few of them as possible. Instead of defeating each of their bodies, you must instead destroy their minds.

Your first strike must be spectacular and very visible to the group. The more visible the injury is, the greater physiological effect it will have on the rest of the group. The first few seconds of the fight are critical, if you can physiologically defeat the group now many of them will scatter without ever throwing a punch.

Identify the leader – Who is the strongest link?  This person is your main threat and must be taken out first. Taking out the leader can destroy the groups willingness to fight and is the first step to surviving an attack.  Remember, you want to create a strong visible injury that will make the group rethink it’s attack.

Where to Attack – In a life or death situation there are no rules.  Take out their eyes, break their kneecaps jab them in the throat….. your goal is to immobilize the attackers by any means available.

Everyday Carry Pocket Weapons

• Smith & Wesson SWPENBL Blue Tactical Pen
• Cold Steel Pocket Shark Self Defense Md: 91SPB
• 16 in. Airweight Expandable Baton
• Kubaton
• Kubotan Yawara – Pointed

Top Tips that you need to know before heading out.

1. Although it may seem strange, snow is actually a really good insulator. If there is enough snow you can bury your vehicle to help keep winter winds from stealing your vehicles heat. Just make sure you create an airway for fresh air and keep one of the doors free enough to get out.
   You will also want to create a way of signaling rescuers if your vehicle is hidden by snow.
2. Block off unused space. Use anything at your disposal to block off any space in your vehicle that is not being used. Blankets, leaves, whatever you can find to shove into spaces where heat can be lost.
3. Run Your vehicle for 10 minutes every hour – Make sure to keep the exhaust pipe clear of snow or debris. Poison gases can enter into your car if the pipe is clogged.
4. Bundle Up – Keep extra dry clothes, warm blankets, gloves, hats and winter socks in your vehicle.
5. Never leave without a winter survival kit. – Being prepared is always the best course of action. Create a kit that fits into your trunk. The kit should contain warm clothes, tea light candles (for warmth), flares, tools, chains, Fix a Flat, and other winter survival tools.
6. Huddle together. Huddling together in a small space can increase the amount of heat in that area. Remember to block off any space that’s not being used, then huddle closely together to generate more body heat.
7. Don’t forget to move – Move your arms, hands legs, feet and toes to improve your circulation and to keep warm.How to stay warm if your car get’s stranded in a winter storm.

Items you should have in your vehicles emergency kit.

• Road Assistance Kit
• Emergency Thermal Blankets
• Fix-A-Flat
• HeatMax Hand & Body Warmers
• Handheld Signal Kit
• Blankets
• Sleeping Bag
• Winter Clothes (hats, gloves, socks)
• Emergency Candles

If you a prepared then you should always have a good survival lighter, it is by far the most reliable way to start a fire in any situation. In my opinion everyone of the fire starting methods and tools listed below are nothing compared to a good lighter. When it’s 20 degrees out, your soaking wet, and you are in desperate need of a fire…..  do you really want to mess around with anything other than a lighter?

Survival is about preparedness, and I would never recommend any of the following fire starting tips over having a lighter in your kit. But knowledge is the key to survival so…..

7 ways to start a fire if the world ever runs out of lighters.

1. Waterproof Matches
2. Magnesium Firestarter
3. Blast Match Fire Starter ( part of the Ultimate Survival Kit)
4. Fine steel wool and a 9 volt battery (kinda wacky but it actually works * again make sure you have lighters!)
5. Fire Drill
6. Fire Plough
7. Hand Drill Method

Want a backup to your lighter? PACK ANOTHER LIGHTER!

So what should you do if you find yourself in an emergency situation without water?

• Once a disaster hits you have to act quick. The first thing you should do is find a way to store as much water as possible.  Fill your bathtubs, sinks, pots and other large storage containers with water.  The average bathtub holds somewhere around 50 gallons of water.  Check out the Waterbob Emergency Drinking Water Storage it’s a good system to have on hand.
• Immediately shut off your water main to prevent contamination to your hot water heater which is a great source of emergency water.

Where to find water during an emergency.

Your home has a number of place where you can find emergency water.

• Hot Water Heater Tank - Your hot water heater is a great source of emergency water.
• Canned Goods – Tuna, canned vegetables, beans and fruit all contain liquids that can be drained.
• If you live in a multilevel home, you can drain the water in your pipes by using gravity to your advantage. After the water lines into your house have been shut off, drain your pipes by using the lowest faucet in your house.
• Toilet Water – In an emergency you can boil the water from the flush tank (not the bowl) of your toilet.  I would only use this water as a last resort and only if I was sure it was free of chemicals.
• Rainwater - Use large pots and containers to catch and  store rainwater.

How to Generate your own Water

• If your really prepared you can actually generate your own water with the EcoloBlue 28 Atmospheric Water Generator while it’s not cheap and you will need a source of power,  it may be a great option for those that can afford such a device. The system generates up to 7 gallons of pure drinking water per day from the humidity in the air.