Most self defense  or womens self defense classes do not teach you how to walk in a city or an urban environment after sundown.  They spend so much time on technique that they overlook some of the obvious items and strategies that can be employed for your personal safety.  Learning how to move from one safe zone to another, for example, after dark being one of them.  This article will show you and explain the concept of being safe while navigating an urban environment.

Most self defense classes tell you to stand in the light or underneath a streetlight while you decide what route to take or as you wait for a streetlight to change states.  This is a mistake.  If there are bad guys along your route, they're typically going to be standing in the shadows where you cannot see them.  You stand underneath a streetlight and they can see you very easily and decide ahead of time whether you're a good target or not.  So the first rule of navigating an urban area or a city street is don't stand where people can see you.  Another reason to stand in the shadows is that it allows your eyes to get accustomed to the dark.  In this way you can see better and this will assist you in your route choices.  Let's start a scenario in the next paragraph.

You have finished eating at a restaurant.  Chances are you know where your car or where you're going to get public transportation.  Suffice it to say you know what the end point is in your route.  However, choosing your route can be a very dynamic and life-saving adventure.  As you exit the restaurant stand in the shadow, or at least not in a streetlight, and looked down the first section of your route.  Most routes give you at least two options, either side of the street, to choose from.  The first thing you can do as you are determining what side of the street to go down, is utilized the headlights of cars to view underneath the vehicles on either side of the street.  Most cars headlights shine underneath parked cars as they travel their routes.  Utilizing this ability to see if there are bad guys hiding behind or around cars.  I know that it might sound stupid and particularly unacceptable, wear a baseball cap at night, if possible is a good thing.  By utilizing the brim of the cap, to protect your eyes from directly looking into headlights allows you to keep your night vision better.  You can perform the same type of eye protection by raising your hand and blocking out the direct light of cars or streetlights from hitting your eyes directly.

So as you're looking down the street and you are utilizing the headlights of the cars to illuminate your potential routes, the next thing to look at are possible attack areas.  These would of course be alleyways or other areas that you could be drug off the sidewalk into a dark area.  And one of the other final things in determining your route is the concept of safe areas that you may run into.  These areas might be stores, restaurants, or the like where you can get help if you need it.  Once you have started down your chosen route I always suggest you walk in the middle of the sidewalk as you begin.  If you are advancing on an alleyway then move towards the street more to allow yourself to have as much room to maneuver if attacked.  And if you reach a really bad area you may actually want to walk out on the street along the sides of the parked cars traffic permitting.  But basically you want to move from one safe zone to another and always give yourself as much time to react to a situation as possible.

Once you have gotten to your next safe zone, and you are standing in the shadows, you now apply the same decision-making skills that you did earlier from the restaurant.  Looking at both possibilities of your route, identifying any bad areas, and identifying safe zones are your key focus as you move along towards your destination. Also let me mention, at this point, that if you can time streetlight crossings as the light changes, and you don’t have to stand out on the curb waiting for the light to change, is a good strategy.

If you are taking a self defense class or even connected to a martial arts class, you might ask the teacher to take you out at night and teach you how to walk a city or urban environment.  Utilizing these strategies you'll find quickly that you are more in command and safer, therefore than you were before.  Another thing I did not mention is that as you're standing in the shadows looking in determining your route and, if there are bad guys they most likely are in the shadows as well.  However they're probably not in your shadow.  The bad guys might notice that there are other bad guys looking at the street, thus mistaking you as a fellow criminal.  This could also work to your advantage as you become a nontargeted or nonplayer in the street dynamics of a sudden attack.

If nothing else this concept of moving from safe zone for safe zone, identifying attack areas, and staying in the shadows forces you to become very aware of your surroundings.  The mere fact that you are aware and actively engaging in your safety, makes you less of an easy target; and therefore, you will be a non-targeted, as bad guys like easy targets.  It has been statistically shown that for aggravated assault most victims were chosen because they're easy or will offer no resistance.  A person who is aware of their surroundings will, most likely, offer resistance! Therefore, you are not an easy target and will not be engaged by the bad guys.  Also remember to have your self defense weapon or other personal defense weapons ready in hand, just in case!  Armed with this knowledge and your self defense weapon, you increase your chances of successfully navigating what might be a very deadly course… who knows, but its better to be safe then sorry!