When you drive, you are using the same situational awareness tools you need to navigate dangers in the street.
- We calculate speed, distance, and timing and manipulate the vehicle with acceleration, braking, turning, and more.
- We take in vital info and make efficient decisions about potential threats, escape routes, and Plan B’s.
- We aren’t thinking “danger close” when we merge or observe, but we are still driving in the spirit of “self-defense.”
- Our thought process is mostly governed by situational awareness and the decision to avoid a confrontation (accident/ticket, etc.).
[Good] drivers drive protectively, they drive with their “eyes wide open.”
It’s all pretty amazing what the brain can compute.
Now apply those same skills in daily life while you’re on foot in a public location as most of it is the same formula with some additional pieces of info to fill in the blanks. (Make sure you fill in the blanks!)
- Trust your gut
- Diffuse your vision
- Avoid shitty areas
- Don’t speed, don’t move too slow
- Get off your smartphone dummy
- Choose safety
One of the areas most neglected in martial art and self-defense training is in fact, situational awareness (SA).
[Working 99% of the time within arm’s length, striking, and countering cannot help you develop SA or de-escalation skills.]
So what’s cool, if you drive, is that you now realize that you have decent SA skills and you can transfer them to the street. If you don’t drive, you can still practice as a passenger and then integrate into your personal SA skills.