Some Safety Tips

I was walking in Taipan last night, and did notice a good number of lengluis (pretty girls)carrying their handbags in somewhat dangerous fashion. It is sad that the streets are not as safe as it should be. One should be careful, but when crime occurs, the victims should never be blamed. Regardless, no one asks for it.

I have a suspicion that the main item snatch thieves go after would be the mobile phones. It is sad to see that telco companies are not doing much. All the telcos should immediately block access of stolen phones (not just the stolen SIM cards). Sure, there are ways to erase the serial numbers but that makes it more difficult.

A fellow alumni member of the ex QQQ staff has a dad who used to serve with the police force. I have been into prisons on a couple of occasions - as a contractor. There are a lot of simple safety tips that one can use:

• If someone kidnaps you in a car, and the kidnapper is driving with you on the front passenger seat, the best thing to do is to crash the car SAFELY. The best speed to crash the car is around 30 km per hour. Higher speeds would be dangerous. Ensure that you have your seat belt securely fastened. Just before crashing the car, undo the kidnapper's seat belt. Crash the car against a solid barrier, such as a concrete wall. Never against a lorry or other vehicles. A strong pole is also a good candidate. And yes, without the safety belt, the kidnapper will at minimum hit against the windscreen with severe head / face injuries or worse, be thrown out of the car all together.
• Keep coins in your car. If you are being followed, try to let the vehicle pass you. Naturally, they will not. Drive to a nearest police station. If you are threatend, well, while driving, just throw out a few handful of coins. It is one way to inflict damage on the other vehicle and hopefully they will leave you alone. However, do so only as a last option.
• If someone blocks your patch, put your car into first gear and drive into it. However, do NOT hit the obstacle hard - you do not want to damage your radiator or your engine. Just use you car to push the obstacle away.
• If you must hit something, use the back of your car. Ensure your safety belt is on. Ensure that you have a head rest. The back of a car does not have any important components (unless your car engine is at the back!) - so, use it to your advantage.
• Perfume, sprays (including mosquito spray) can be turned into an instant flame thrower. No joke - this is serious.
• If there are 'mat rempits' are after you, just ram them with your car. Drive them off the road. Do not stop. Drive to a police station.

These steps are really for in extremis situations - when normal rules no longer apply, when the question is "you or me..." (not in a romantic sense). They are dangerous. They can injure either parties, but when it comes down to " you or me ", the decission is easy. There are a lot more safety steps out there, do read up.

On matters of safety, I do suggest that every home be installed with a smoke detector. It is only about RM 60 to RM 80 (depending on outlet). Get a reliable unit. Yes, I do have one. It is from Sentrix Technology Sdn. Bhd. I think it is good enough. Get one - you never know.

Also, in cars, keep a spring loaded steel pin. The device can be found in various hardware stores - mainly to make a surface prior to drilling or to insert a screw. Reason - cars have tempered glass. These glass are very strong and it is difficult to break it from the inside of the car. If you need to break the glass, the best thing to use is the spring loaded steel pin. It breaks the glass with minimum effort. Forget kicking to break the glass - it is extremely difficult! I have not seen any in Malaysia, but a emergency hammer is good too. It has a sharp tip to break glass and a partially concealled blade to cut seat belts. I must upload a photo of this later. I got mine from Germany.

Take care...