SAS Urban Survival Handbook (77 page)

BOATS

SAILING/CANOEING/ROWING

Back pain can be a problem, especially in the latter two sports—developing the abdominals guards against this. Paddler’s wrist (inflammation of tendons on outer side) and tennis elbow can be caused by gripping oars/paddles too hard and twisting. Rowers are prone to blisters (rub surgical spirit on palms to toughen them or wear gloves) and haemorrhoids (seek medical advice if ‘piles’ persist). Sailing involves much isometric exercise—where the muscles contract, but the limb is static—and quads strain or abdominal strain are common. Sailors should also guard against dehydration and hypothermia—take drinking water, wear sun screen and protect the eyes.

WARNING

All watersports should be considered potentially DANGEROUS. Death by drowning is particularly associated with people taking unnecessary risks or with alcohol/drug use. NEVER drink and swim! Alcohol is thought to be responsible for up to 50% of drowning deaths each year – in Britain alone, one person under 25 dies each week. Apart from ‘errors of judgement’, alcohol lowers the blood temperature – as does swimming. This combination alone can be fatal.

NEVER swim within 90 minutes of eating. Blood around the muscles is in short supply and cramps can result. IF you get cramp: stop swimming, turn onto your back and float. Stretch the cramped muscle. When the cramp eases off, swim to the side using a different stroke.

NEVER dive into very cold water as the shock results in immediate hyperventilation, increased blood pressure and pulse. The shock itself may kill you. Loss of body heat weakens movement and reduces coordination. This is especially dangerous if you are elderly, convalescent or unfit.

NEVER swim in flooded sand or gravel pits or quarries. Submerged objects are dangerous and steeply-shelving sides may make climbing out impossible.

In transit

All motorists know when they’re taking risks. City driving, in

particular, has become aggressive and competitive. Here are some tips on self-defence for motorists. Going on holiday? Don’t let your brain take a holiday too!

ON THE MOVE
Motoring • Defensive driving • Normal conditions • Adverse conditions

• Breakdowns • Basic car maintenance • Spare-parts kit • Accidents • After an accident

• Car fire • Motorbikes • Cycling

PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Underground • Bus • Train • Water transport • Man overboard

• You overboard

LIFTS/ESCALATORS
Types of lift • Hatches • Safety devices • Using lifts • Trapped in a lift

TRAVELLING ABROAD
Research your destination • Before you go • Immunization

• Be prepared • Packing • Air travel • Plane crashes • Restricted and prohibited items • Sea travel

• First-aid kit • When you arrive • Food and drink • Accidents • Assess the risks • Acclimatization

• Heat • Sun • Sensible tanning • Humidity • Altitude • Cold • Time zones • Jetlag

ON THE MOVE

Many people are constantly on the move, so this chapter deals with common situations that arise when you are away from home—on your way from A to B. Whether you’re driving, cycling, riding public transport, or catching

an aeroplane to another continent, a little forethought can make your journey safer. Accidents happen, even on foot. In fact, the chance of you being injured or killed when out walking is around 1 in 900. Motoring accidents, however, account for around 6000 deaths per year, in Britain alone.

MOTORING

If it is true that you drive as you would like to live, there are an awful lot of frustrated jet-setters on our roads. However careful a driver YOU might be, there’s

a maniac round every corner looking for an accident. Traffic accidents can be due to many factors, but these narrow down to three overall headings: the driver, the car and the road.

A responsible and careful driver of a well-maintained car on a road where visibility is good should be relatively safe. You owe it to yourself, your passengers, to pedestrians and other road users to do everything in your power to minimize the risks of motoring. But it’s essential to know what to do when the worst comes to the worst.

DEFENSIVE DRIVING

In a nutshell, this means being alert to possible dangers BEFORE they become dangerous. It doesn’t mean crawling along at a snail’s pace with your eyes glued to the rear-view mirror, but simply adopting a kind of sensible road safety which should become second nature to every driver.

Normal conditions: TOWN

Around 95 per cent of pedestrian accidents occur on roads in built-up areas. If you don’t want to contribute to this depressing statistic, you should increase your awareness of the hazards on every high street—try to anticipate what is likely to happen and be ready to react. In general, be alert, observant, and USE YOUR COMMON SENSE.

• ◑ If there’s a bus ahead, watch out for passengers running to catch it or jumping off, even between stops.
  
• ◑ Taxis are a law unto themselves, especially in large cities. Be ready for them to slow down or swerve with little warning and watch out for people hailing one from the kerb.
  
• ◑ If you hear a siren, slow down and be ready to move to the side. DON’T stop, swerve or accelerate suddenly.
  
• ◑ The people in the car in front are gazing at the shops, pointing or gesticulating. They may be looking for a parking space or a street number—or having a row—but they’re not aware you’re on their tail. KEEP BACK, or bip the horn.
  
• ◑ Approaching a parked car: is there someone inside? Is the indicator flashing? Is there smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe? It could be about to pull out.
  
• ◑ Check for signs of movement behind or between parked cars, and especially around ice cream vans—a child could run out suddenly.
  
• ◑ In moving traffic, if brake lights go on on the car in front, touch your own brakes to warn the car behind.
  
• ◑ Use reflections in shop windows at junctions and on blind bends to help you ‘see round corners’.
  

Normal conditions: TOWN/COUNTRY

• ◑ Don’t assume the car in front is about to turn left because its indicator is signalling right—the driver may have forgotten to cancel it, or may change his/her mind.
  
• ◑ Give cyclists as much room as you would a car. They may swerve to avoid a pothole. They may want to pull out.
  
• ◑ Turning left at a junction? Make your intention obvious—signal, take up a dominating position on the road, pull out onto the crown to allow traffic to pass inside.
  
• ◑ Be patient with learners—remember you were one once.
  

  They are unpredictable. If stopped behind one on a hill, beware of them rolling back before moving off.
  

• ◑ Animals are also unpredictable (especially cats, which ALWAYS run the wrong way). Brake hard and keep in a straight line if one should run in front of you—swerving could cause a worse accident.
  
• ◑ Headlight flashing should only be used to alert the other driver to your presence or as a danger warning. Never assume it means ‘please go ahead’.
  
• ◑ Garage and pub forecourts are invitations to careless drivers. Watch out for cars braking and pulling in with little or no warning.
  

Normal conditions: OUT OF TOWN

• ◑ Drive EXTRA carefully if there’s mud on the road, especially in the rain.
  
• ◑ Drive VERY slowly past horses and avoid any sudden noise.
  
• ◑ It’s best to wait for a flock of sheep or herd of cattle to pass.
  
• ◑ Hay and mud can warn of a slow moving tractor ahead; droppings can warn of animals.
  
• ◑ Farm produce shops and roadside stalls mean the car in front may brake or turn off suddenly. Be prepared for carelessly parked cars on the verges ahead.
  

Night

• ◑ Ensure your windscreen is spotless—reflected lights at night can reduce your vision dramatically.
  
• ◑ If a car approaches with headlamps on full beam, DON’T look directly at them, but follow the nearside kerb until it passes. Retaliating by switching your own lights to full beam is
  OFF
  ensive driving—in other words, likely to cause an accident.
  
• ◑ In the country, be prepared for changes in street lighting and road surfaces at county boundaries.
  

Adverse conditions: FOG

Fog is one of the most hazardous of all driving conditions. Not only is visibility severely reduced, but sound is muffled, the road becomes more slippery than during rain and it’s very difficult to judge distance or speed. Here’s what to do when you run into fog.

• ◑ Day or night, drive with dipped headlights. Ensure the lenses are clean, since dust and dirt can reduce beam intensity by half.
  
• ◑ Use fog lamps if you have them—they are low mounted and give a wide arc of light. If you have a single fog lamp, switch on headlights too to avoid being mistaken for a motorbike.
  
• ◑ Drive SLOWLY. Since you should be able to stop within your range of vision, you might have to limit your speed to as little as 8 kph (5 mph).
  
• ◑ Stay back from the car in front. Braking distance is some 20 m (about 70 feet) more than in normal, dry conditions, and restricted vision slows reaction time.
  
• ◑ Beware of driving in the middle of the road and following the Catseyes—you don’t want to meet someone doing the same in the other direction.
  
• ◑ Following the tail lights of the car in front could mean following an idiot into a ditch or a head-on crash. Keep to the side of the road and follow the kerb instead.
  
• ◑ Keep your window open. The unnatural silence is disorientating and you might pick up aural clues to the whereabouts of invisible things.
  
• ◑ Use windscreen wipers and keep the inside demister on to clear the windscreen.
  
• ◑ If you have to turn left, first stick your head out of the window and listen especially hard.
  
• ◑ NEVER NEVER overtake—unless somebody is about to give birth on the back seat.
  
• ◑ Leaning forward to peer through the screen makes you tense and tired. You’ll see—and drive—better if you try sitting normally.
  
• ◑ Try not to park on the road. If you must, switch on hazard lights and set up a warning triangle 90m (about 100 yds) behind—135 m (about 150 yds) on a motorway.