Situational Awareness and Demeanor

• 1). Maintain alertness to your surroundings no matter where you are. Keep all your senses functioning; headphones, for instance, can cut off your sense of hearing and make you unable to hear someone approaching from behind.
  
  
• 2). Periodically move your eyes to the left or right to watch for people and vehicles.
  
  
• 3). Be aware of signs of potential conflict; for instance, footsteps behind you speeding up can indicate a person walking more quickly to catch up to you.
  
  
• 4). Have a clear purpose and destination. Walk at a reasonably fast pace and hold your head up. If you look confident, alert and focused, you present yourself as a more difficult target, according to "Psychology Today." However, ensure that you don't look fearful or aggressive.
  
  
• 5). Dress for the weather as appropriately as possible, but avoid wearing clothing that restricts your freedom of movement, such as high heels or bulky coats.
  
  

Preventive Measures

• 1). Avoid carrying large amounts of cash on you. If you have to carry cash, make it less than $50.
  
  
• 2). To protect your identification, carry two wallets. Keep some cash in one and your identification, driver's license, insurance cards, and contact information in the other. Wear both wallets in your front pockets. If you carry a purse, keep your identification in it.
  
  
• 3). Travel during the daytime when possible. Stay in well-populated, well-lit areas if you have to be out alone at night.
  
  
• 4). Always lock your vehicle before leaving it. When you return to your vehicle, have your car keys ready to unlock the door and get in right away without having to search for the keys.
  
  
• 5). Keep your friends and family up-to-date with your whereabouts or plans and have their numbers in a cell phone, so you can call them if necessary for help. Having a working cell phone also enables you to call the police.
  
  

Handling Conflict

• 1). If you should encounter a situation in which you are threatened, first try to escape.
  
  
• 2). If an assailant demands your wallet or money while brandishing a weapon, under no circumstances should you try to fight for it. Fight only if the attacker seems intent on harming you regardless of your compliance with his demands.
  
  
• 3). Keep a self-defense tool such as pepper spray on you, in accordance with your area's laws governing the use of such items. Lethal weapons like guns or knives aren't best suited for self-defense either legally or tactically. If necessary, use improvised weapons from your surroundings, such as sticks, tree branches, bricks or dirt. You can also use your car keys for a makeshift stabbing weapon.
  
  
• 4). Strike weak points on the attacker's body that will incapacitate her. According to the American Jujitsu Club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, some of these weak points include the eyes, the throat, the knees, the groin, the bridge of the nose and the top of the foot. Only use a groin strike if you're certain to land one; however, groin strikes are easily evaded and telegraphed.
  
  
• 5). After thoroughly incapacitating your attacker, exit the situation as quickly as possible.