Survival Driving

Staying Alive on the World's Most Dangerous Roads

Robert H. Deatherage, Jr.

• Verlag: CRC Press
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000432947
• Auflage: 2
• Thema: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Thema: Terrorismo

Survival Driving: Staying Alive on the World's Most Dangerous Roads, Second Edition was written to inform and protect: to keep people alive by making them more situationally aware.

Any person is a potential target, either from a criminal or a terrorist threat, depending on your profession and the type of environment you live and work in. Driving is the most important part of a person's security program, whether the person is traveling alone or the executive being moved by his or her security detail. The book is written in plain, easy to understand language providing straight-forward guidance that outlines tools to ensure security whenever in transit in a vehicle. This includes making themselves a hard target in order to avoid attack.

While most terrorist or criminal attacks are difficult to predict, the majority of attacks take place when a person is in transit. By providing tools such as rout analysis, identifying choke points, learning where safe havens are located along a route, individuals are able to predict the places that are most vulnerable, and take steps to ensure safety. VIPs, executives, those working in—or traveling to—volatile regions of the world, and those hired to protect such individuals will equally learn how to detect surveillance when it is targeted against them, when they are the potential target. Failing this, the book also provides the tools a person needs to break contact and escape when an attack against them while moving in their vehicle occurs.

The book covers basic and advanced driving skills and instructs on how to best understand the transport vehicle and its capabilities.

Key Features:

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• Instructs readers on how to recognize and anticipate potential attack sites during movement

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• Illustrates how to properly maintain a vehicle at peak performance in different environments so it will work as required when needed

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• Describes vehicle dynamics and, specifically, how a vehicle can be used as a tool to protect, and aid escape, when under attack

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• Outlines the ways individuals can become more situationally aware in their movements

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• Maps out key security driving elements such as steering, braking, vehicle dynamics, and evasive maneuvers to escape amidst a threat

By raising situational awareness, increasing knowledge of the attack cycle, and outlining the nature of threats, Survival Driving can transform any reader from a soft target to an informed hard target who threat actors will want to avoid.

Chapter 1 Who Is a Target?

People become victims of terrorist or criminal attacks in several different ways. Some threats are easy to avoid and some are not, depending on such factors as the type of business you are in, the reason you are in an area, and the amount of publicity surrounding you.

People can be either general or specific targets. First I will discuss general targets.

General Targets

The three most common ways people become general targets of terrorist or criminal acts are being in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting targeted through association with someone who is a target, and becoming a target of opportunity.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

This is just like it sounds—being in a place at the same time an attack takes place. This type of attack does not target you specifically, but rather is aimed at a particular location. Terrorists often target places where Americans gather on a regular basis—such as bars, hotels, stores, and eating establishments (e.g., fast food places that are common in the United States)—because they are reminded of home. If you are traveling to an area where your company has had a long-term presence, avoid spots that are known as hangouts for foreigners, since they will likely be targets already. To avoid becoming an unwitting victim of a criminal act, avoid banks, jewelry stores, or high-class shopping areas, which are probably already under some type of surveillance by criminals looking for easy targets, regardless of nationality.

Victim by Association

Sometimes you associate with people who are already targets because of their occupation. This could be someone in a high-profile position, such as chief of security, or it could be any employee of an industry that terrorists have historically targeted.

You might have to work with or meet with government officials, city leaders, business leaders, and law enforcement personnel in the course of your daily activities or duties. If they are targeted, then you (or the person you are protecting), when in close proximity or association to the intended target, could become involved, regardless of the victim’s status or perceived security. Be aware of whom you are meeting and where, and try to determine if these types of people have been targeted or threatened in the past.

If you are going to conduct meetings with locals, find out how they are perceived in the community and if there have already been attacks or threats against them or their interests. This will help in adjusting your security profile when meeting or doing business with them.

Target of Opportunity

Being a target of opportunity is very similar to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, except the attackers are looking for someone who doesn’t fit in, e.g., a nonlocal. It doesn’t really matter who, just any foreigner with a weak security posture who can be attacked in some way—and there you are.

A good example is the targeting of vehicles driven by foreigners in Iraq by roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs) (Figure 1.1). Terrorists wait for a certain type of vehicle to pass and then explode the device. The attackers don’t really care who they get, but they know from experience that only foreigners or Americans drive certain types of SUVs or other vehicles, so, boom, you are their next target of opportunity.

Figure 1.1 A common weapon against targets of opportunity is the IED. Avoid becoming a target by blending in with the locals.

Specific Targets

Most people are general targets, but what if you are targeted for a specific reason? People on potential target lists are put there for many reasons, nationality being a common one. Terrorist organizations have preferred target countries, because they are trying to influence those countries’ foreign policy or politics, whether it is America, Israel, Britain, or Spain. Organizations that target people by their country of origin are not concerned with your occupation and will target you while you are vacationing, passing through, working, or doing volunteer or relief work in a country.

Both terrorists and criminals identify targets based on their perception of certain people’s importance to the business interest, government, or other organizations in that country. When I talk about the threat perception, you have to understand that targets are selected based on the perception of what people outside your sphere of security see, not on what you know. A person looking at you, your organization, or your client knows only what he can see. If you look or act like an important person, then to him you are. It is important to stay as low profile as possible and not let someone outside your sphere of security think you are important enough to be a potential target (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 Your vehicle might not look exactly like local vehicles, but the less it looks like a military vehicle the better. Bigger is not always better.

You or your client might be a very important person (VIP), but while traveling you need to discourage any activity that will make you stand out to people in general. This includes receiving special treatment at the airport upon arrival into a country, such as being greeted by local authorities or business executives or getting escorted through customs control points or baggage areas. Other signs that might telegraph to a criminal or terrorist that you or your client is a worthy target are carrying luggage or equipment that stands out, having a limousine or other type of conspicuous vehicle waiting for you, and having an escort. Such things will make you stand out as different, and because you are different, you are important. Remember to keep that low profile.

Many foreign hotels offer their guests the use of cars and drivers while they are staying there. These cars usually stand out compared to what the local population drives. Criminals or terrorists see the car and reason that people who have access to these special cars from the hotel must be important. Or your business or the embassy might send a car and driver to take you around. Once again, this will also make you stand out and possibly identify what your interests in that area are or for whom you work, which could also make you a potential target.

If you are planning on staying or living in an area for a considerable time, look at leasing a vehicle instead of buying one. But be aware that many countries give foreigners license plates that are different than those of citizens of that country. For example, Germany puts the American flag on the plates of Americans’ vehicles. You want to avoid having your vehicle, which normally blends into the local environment, stand out because of its license plates.

Decals and stickers on your vehicle can also place you on a target list. Some businesses, organizations, exclusive housing areas, clubs, and schools require them for access and parking. Not only do these types of decals tell curious parties where you live, shop, or go to school, they may also identify you as an important or wealthy person. Kidnapping is a major source of income for criminals and terrorists in some countries, and targeting people or corporations that have the money to pay is always inviting. If your job site, club, living area, school, or business requires this type of identification for access, ask if you can place the permit on an index card and keep it in your glove box when not in use. This will lessen your profile on the street during movement and make your vehicle more difficult to pick out when it is parked in public places.

Individuals who have chauffeurs or drivers are considered important, so do your own driving whenever possible. If you don’t know the area initially, or the security threat is such that you must have a detail to protect you, then a driver should be considered a part of your security profile. But if the driver is not essential for security purposes, use one only until you become familiar with the area and the routes, and then decline his services and obtain a different car. If your position requires that you have a permanent chauffeur, make sure he is trained in security and defensive driving. You should decide which routes to use, what speed to drive, and the departure times. You should also change the type of vehicle often to confuse any surveillance. Remember, whenever you have someone else behind the wheel, you are placing your life in his hands.

Only someone who believes he is important or considers himself at risk will have a bodyguard or security detail. The more important the person is—or thinks he is—the larger the security detail will be. Keep the number of guards during transport to the minimum number necessary to meet the threats for that area. As a general rule, a security detail for transporting you should blend in with the rest of the population so that people cannot tell how many there are in the detail, the types of weapons they have, and where they are in relation to the person they are protecting. If you deny this information to the criminals or terrorists, they cannot plan for it. Be unpredictable; raise that security profile; be that hard target.

On the other hand, if you know you are a target, then having a visible security element will raise your security profile and make you a harder target for the threat. This is good, since attackers prefer softer targets. If your position, job, or status is such that you know you will be a target no matter what you do, you must never allow yourself or your security detail to get complacent. You need to make it as difficult as possible for the threat.

By firing first at an actual or a perceived threat, security details have sometimes forced would-be kidnappers into becoming assassins. A good security detail will move its principal out of the area as soon as a perceived threat ...