A little story from my experience this weekend, that could possibly help you, or a friend.
 
On Saturday night, I faced an attempted hi-jacking, it’s something that we hope never to face in our lives, but always have to be vigilant of.

This is where we can start, the vigilance, I started being followed from the highway, its not just about checking your mirrors for cars, but also looking at the behaviour of the cars around you, one could even call it the body language of the cars.

I would change lanes, and the car would sometimes match it, they remained at a distance that would not be suspicious to someone who was not vigilant or monitoring them. I slowed down to a measly 90kph, and they did not pass me? Very strange.

So I began to accelerate, hard, to get away, and would you know, they did the same, I started weaving through traffic, they did the same.

So this is the very important part of getting away from hijackers, is the next step where you begin your escape plan, you have recognized your threat, now begin to deal with it.

Long story, short, with manoeuvres, using offramps and onramps, thinking ahead and speed, I lost them, on any other day, with someone who was not vigilant, it could have been dangerous.

So let me breakdown some tips I have learned along the way, that could help you or someone you know:

-Timing, hi-jackers in most cases will time you, follow you around and begin their plan of attack – this in most cases happens at night, but equally so, you can be confronted with a threat during the day, as mentally, you expect it not to happen.

-Distances, maintain your distances to cars, on all parts of the road, highway, city road, back-roads and intersections – because you may not be threatened from the rear, but also the front, they can block you, jam you in,

also, when stopping at stop streets or traffic lights, try and leave a space to the cars in front of you, my recommendation, is stopping far back enough, that you can see some tarmac between your bonnet line and the bottom of the car in front of you, rear wheels.

-Their Goal, they are after your car or your belongings, in most times if you have a high risk vehicle, it’s the car – alternatively, those luxury items that are on your person.

-Vigilance A Habit, once you practice these small techniques of observations, it will eventually become second nature.

-Defence, learn how to defend with your car, by using driving techniques to get away, or around danger, gapping in between cars to block them.
-Speed, this is fundamentally your best friend – I can show you 100 videos where someone used speed, and it saved them.

You can begin to practice these techniques, alternatively, we’ll put together a list of companies that run Defensive Driving and Anti-Hijacking courses.

I hope you can use these to your benefit! Thanks for reading and pass it on to one who could use it!