10 safety tips you should know about
1 . Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!
2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans: If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse,
DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you. Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.) DON’T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.
5. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes
bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.
6 . A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
- Be aware: look around you, look into your car. at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat
- If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.
- Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)
7. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)
8. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN! Preferably, in a zig-zag pattern!
9. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP! It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for help”
into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.
10. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch
the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird.
The police told her “Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.”
The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried
that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, “We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.” He told her that they think a serial killer
has a baby’s cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby’s cries outside their doors when they’re home alone at night.
Nice set of tips, I even find them funny in my own retarded way.
Anyways, I have a little problem with it, most of the tips would work if
1) you have your own car
2) you have carry a cheque book when shopping
3) you ride work in a tall building
Sadly in the Philippines, most people lack the three things I’ve mentioned above. Most petty crimes happen at home, in the public jeepneys or buses and in dark streets and alleys.
Nice list. Let me tell you a couple of tricks I too learned from another tourist for #2:
Carry 2 sets of wallets. One filled with papers and 3 o 4 bucks so that it looks full, and place it in your outer pocket. The other place it hidden in your jacket. When you are assaulted, throw the empty-but-full-looking wallet away from you and run to where there are people who can assist you. Most robbers won’t engage you if there’s another person around.
Another trick, is to wear a belt with a hidden compartment. Stuff it a few $20 bills. In case you are robbed, you’ll at least have enough money in your belt to pay for a taxi back home.
Be safe!
Great tips. Lius’ tip about #2 is a lot better. It’s a perfect way of tricking those kinds of people. I’d like to see their faces after taking an empty wallet. It would be embarrassing for them to be outsmarted by tourists.
@Jhay: Yeah, it’s a sad reality that sometimes Filipinos aren’t secure even at their own homes.
@Luis: That’s a good one also. Thanks for that.
@Pat: Thanks for visiting.
Hope you got some good tips there.
It’s funny how people in movies react when inside the trunk. I’m just not sure if #3 was done in a movie. If not they should promote #3 in movies. It could be a good example for would be victims to follow in times like that, although bad people may also see it and could do something different.
Yeah, it would be very helpful if movies reflect safety measures like these.