No matter if you’re going out downtown, taking a road trip, or traveling overseas, avoiding dangerous places should be at the top of your list when it comes to your safety. Properly planning out your travels and knowing where not to go is all part of the prevention side of self defense. Prevention is your biggest asset against being mugged or otherwise assaulted.

Over the course of the last few weeks, our posts have been focusing on self defense and your personal safety. Today is no different. Below, you’ll find a list of all of the shady places you should be avoiding if you want to ensure your safety. You’ll find tips for local areas and other travel planning ideas. If you’re searching for the best self defense classes in the area, be sure to call Gracie Raleigh today! We’re not your typical UFC gym in Raleigh NC as we specialize in self defense, BJJ, muay thai, MMA, and more. Call today and ask about our free classes.

Avoiding Shady Places Will Help You Avoid Being Victimized

High Crime Locations

In most cities across America, there are areas where crime is higher than others. Heck, some cities in America are high crime areas in their entirety. If you’re reading this post, then I want you to sit and think for a moment about the bad neighborhoods in the town or city that you live in. Even if you’re not specifically being targeted, there’s a possibility that visiting these places could put you in the crossfire of something else going on that doesn’t even involve you. That’s why it’s extremely important for you to avoid these places.

If you love to travel domestically or internationally, be sure to avoid flying into the high crime areas or making those your home-base. It’s just not worth the risk for a little excitement. There are thousands of safe and beautiful places for you to visit, across the globe, with low crime stats.

Opportunistic Places

An opportunistic place can be almost anywhere, even right outside your front door. These in-between places raise your chances of encountering a violent predator because of low risk – high reward situations. Even worse, sometimes it’s totally unavoidable to end up in an opportunistic place. So where are these locations you should try to avoid? They are places people have to pass through, but at low frequencies.

A few examples of opportunistic places consist of the areas between parking lots, isolated side streets, inside parking garages, tourist attractions, around jogging or hiking trails, and even the pathway to your apartment’s mail room can be the perfect place to get victimized. Predators will hide in the shadows around these locations just waiting for a victim to pass by. They’ll have a small time period to be alone with their victim without much risk of being seen by a passerby. And these victims are also high reward and low risk targets, meaning they’ll usually have money, jewelry, electronics, and other valuables on them.

Try to avoid these places if possible, and limit your time and exposure when it’s unavoidable. If you’re traveling and want to get out of your hotel room to sightsee, call a cab to drop you off at the tourist attractions instead of walking. If you’re trying to park your car and the choices are on the street or in a parking garage, always choose the street spot. This will keep you visible and not isolated.

Where Violent People Congregate

Misery loves company, and violence follows violence. So if you decide to hang out at, live in, or travel to areas where violence is a commonality, then you should know that your risk of being victimized or assaulted is much higher.

Locally, try to think of where violence is most likely to occur in your community and do your best to avoid those places. These places typically involve groups of young drunk men. Avoiding bars, college parties, and even some sporting events can reduce your chances of encountering violence. This doesn’t mean that you should be a recluse, as there’s plenty of other places for you to seek out entertainment.

In the U.S., we have to deal with violent gangs. Try to avoid the places where known gang members hang out. Also, be careful of what you’re wearing if you do find yourself on a violent gang’s turf. Two nationally famous gangs that originated on the West Coast, the Bloods and Crips, distinguished themselves by wearing different colors. The Bloods wear red and the Crips wear blue. Wearing the wrong color in the wrong place could get you hurt, or even killed if you’re very unlucky.

Lawless Places

If you’re traveling, be sure to avoid going to the lawless places. These are typically war-torn countries, or countries with intense internal conflicts. If you have to go to these places for work, try to limit your time and public exposure there.

Places Where People Don’t Like You

This one piggybacks off of all the above locations. If at all possible, do not go where you’re not wanted, especially if it’s in a dangerous location. For instance, if you’re a white American male, then it’s probably not a good idea to book a trip to a country like Syria. However, visiting places like South Korea, India, and many others should not cause you any problems. Yeah, you’ll sort of stick out, but you should be generally safe.

Be sure to check out the other self defense posts in this series. You’ll find lots of great tips that will help you keep your loved ones safe.

• Introduction to Basic Self Defense
• Basic Self Defense: Awareness and Fitness
• Basic Self Defense: Being a High Risk Low Reward Target

Also, come back soon for even more great self defense posts. We’ve got a few more ideas we’d like to share that include combat tips for the everyday person. If you’re looking for a better martial arts experience for self defense training in 2017, keep reading to see how Gracie Raleigh can help you.

Affordable UFC Gym in Raleigh NC for Self Defense and More

Looking to increase your self defense knowledge? Give us a call today. We’re a highly recommended UFC gym in Raleigh for all of your MMA training needs. Gracie Raleigh is dedicated to your health and fitness goals. We will train you to defend yourself from attackers as well as help you get into the best physical fitness of your life.

We even have specific programs for women and children. There are also no contracts for children, so you don’t have worry about continuing to pay for classes if they change their mind about participating. Gracie also offers FREE martial classes. Call us today to learn more, or to get started.