How to prevent a hijacking
Koos Herselman, Stress and Trauma Consultant and Personal Safety Trainer and Security Consultant, gave us the following tips to prevent a hijacking:
- Minimise your stops during a journey. Hijackers can only get you if you are in your vehicle and stationary.
- Avoid routes that are known to be hijack hotspots.
- Leave lots of room to manoeuvre at intersections. Never stop too close to the vehicle in front of you.
- Keep a watch on pedestrians at intersections, particularly those wearing sunglasses or peaks pulled low over their eyes.
- STAY OFF YOUR CELLPHONE, particularly when stationary in your vehicle.
- Don’t stop for anything, or anyone, even if they seem to need help.
Click here for more tips from Arrive Alive.
What to do when you have kids in the car
- When you are hijacked, never leave your vehicle before older children could get out on their own or you have reached over to unclip smaller children from their car seats at the back and brought them to the front to exit with you.
- Always tell the hijacker that you will just be unclipping your kid’s carseat before reaching over to do so. It is easiest to do this if the child sits diagonally across from the driver.
- Teach older children to loosen their own seatbelts and open their doors. As soon as kids are old enough to understand that they shouldn’t play with the door while you are driving, the Child Safety Lock should come off so that they can open their own door.
- When you’re outside the vehicle try not to face the hijacker and turn your body sideways, with your shoulder facing him, where possible. This prevents your vital organs from being in the line of fire should the hijacker shoot at you.
- Follow the hijackers instructions, remain as calm as possible and don’t interact with them unless you have to, such as making it clear what movements you’re about to make.
Click here to read more about how to keep your child from being snatched.
