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Continued from HOW TO ESCAPE A VEHICLE ATTACK

Most attacks occur when entering a vehicle. Therefore do not park your vehicle in badly lighted and poorly populated areas – these are places where crimes occur more often. Always be observant when approaching or parking your vehicle. Scan around and under vehicle as well as looking inside before getting in. Make sure that nobody is hiding on the back seat. Try to reduce to a minimum the time of entering your automobile - always have your keys in hand and ready for use, open the door quickly.

The number 1 safety rule while driving a car - never to stop. You will remain in relative safety as long as you keep the car going. Remember, it is very hard for a criminal to stop a moving vehicle. Therefore do not make it a habit to stop for hitchhikers, even if it is an old woman, a mother with a child, or a nice girl. Without hesitation go round any obstacle on your way. Do not stop if you see an accident – call the police and/or ambulance on the cellular phone, or drive to the nearest police station. In case of unplanned repair works or suspicious situations on the road, do not come closer to the site, turn back and choose another route. Do not stop in a dangerous situation - even if a tire is damaged, first get to a safe place and only there change the wheel.

Other precautions to be followed when driving a car include:

• Ensure that all doors are locked and windows rolled up. This measure will not save you from a bullet but make problematic the use of grenades. Otherwise, when you stop for a traffic signal or in a traffic jam, a criminal can open the door and throw a grenade inside or pull you out or slide in. When you roll down your window to speak to a stranger who approaches your car, leave only a little crack so that a criminal could not push the hand in the a crack and reach the door latch. When at the gas station lock the vehicle and take the keys or a criminal will be able to sneak into your back seat and wait for you or simply drive off with your vehicle.
• Wherever possible, choose broad motorways with dense traffic where you can manoeuvre in any direction. Never let anyone pull up alongside you. If he does manage to position himself there, he may be either going to shoot, or try and run you off the road. If an attempt is made to overtake you, it will probably be on your left side. To make this more difficult, drive as far to the left as you possibly can. Should he try to overtake you anyway, turn the wheels toward the attacker by turning your wheel to the left. By driving toward the attacker you force him to back up rather than to chase you.
• Keep distance and avoid getting "boxed-in" in traffic when possible. A driver should always be able to see the pavement under the tires of the vehicle directly ahead of them at the stop. This will enable your vehicle enough space to escape.
• To deprive criminals  surprise factor and a good  position for attack, always be alert. Be aware of drivers and passengers of other vehicles and pedestrians who approach your car when you have to bring your car to stop.
• Beware of motorcyclists, especially when there are two of them. Many killers prefer to use motorcycles which are much easier to get to the victim in dense traffic and leave the scene.  Besides they can attack equally well from either side of the victim car.
• Periodically verify if you are under surveillance. Check rear view mirrors frequently and remember details about cars immediately behind you. If you think you are followed go to a police station and describe the vehicle that follows you and its passengers. If it is not possible, try to evade the pursuit. In case of obvious danger try to attract attention by headlight or sound signals or by actions, for example, violating traffic rules.

If nevertheless you have got in an ambush or your vehicle has been blocked, you should do everything possible to remove the car from the kill zone using aggressive way of driving. The most common type of vehicle ambush is the stationary roadblock. In this type of attack, one or two vehicles are lined up across the road. When the unwary and untrained victim sees the roadblock, he will stop, whereupon the attackers will rush the vehicle and drag him away. In this case you should first try to return back by changing your direction 180 degrees without stopping (and ignoring traffic rules), or slam on the brakes, make a 180 degrees turn and drive away.

If it is  impossible to carry out this maneuver (for example, the road is too narrow or criminals have blocked your car from behind as well), it may be necessary to go of the road to get out of the ambush. Be sure not to get stuck in a ditch. Jumping a curb is also a good way to avoid a road-block. A curb can be easily jumped as long as you remember to hit it at and angle of approximately 45 deg. and at a speed under 70 km.

If all these fails ramming your way through a barricade is the last resort. Actually, as long as you wear a seat belt, ramming is almost completely safe.

The first step is to slow down almost to a complete stop and put the car in low gear. This will give your attackers the impression that you are going to stop. Suddenly hit the gas hard and pick a ramming point at a speed of 25-50 km. Your vehicle will make contact then push the barricade out of the path of travel.

Vehicle placement is critical. In a single vehicle blockade the ramming points in order of preference are the rear wheel and rear fender area or the front wheel and front fender area; in a double vehicle blockade – between the rear wheel of the first car and the front wheel of the second (right in the middle of the two cars). After breaking through, get out of the area fast. Even if your car is badly damaged, keep going.

The true danger of ramming is that your vehicle may become inoperable after the collision. It should be born in mind that if you input too much speed it will cause the cars to collide, obviously causing more risk of injury and damage to your vehicle which may not be able to continue its way. Particular caution should be exercised if your vehicle is equipped with airbags, which can deploy at this stage. The real problem is that after the airbag deploys most vehicles will become disabled. If this happens all of your efforts will be wasted because the vehicle computer will need to be reset.                   .

The number 1 rule you should remember is  never leave your car until it stops - it is the best safety heaven for you. Keep moving with the tires shot through, with holes in radiator, crossing lawns and jumping curbs – your main aim is to leave the kill zone as soon as possible. 

However, if the car is dead, the best way is to leave it. Get out of the car on the side opposite to the attack. As soon as you get outside, stay between your car and the attackers. Bending down as low as possible, run from the vehicle to a more reliable cover and then leave the ambush zone.

See other security tips here