Truck attacks

Sad to read of another truck attack, this time in Manhattan.

This type of attack is occurring more frequently.

What would other MAPers view as appropriate self defence in these scenarios-
first comes to mind is the observation stage; for most of us seeing a vehicle that appears out of control is a trigger to make an action, these attacks are deliberate, I expect the body language would appear differently.

Any tactics people would engage in these scenarios?

 

Running, or hiding behind a bollard/wall would be the most appropriate.

However statistically self defence against traffic, is 98. 55% comprised of looking both ways when crossing, etc etc

Its the unusual event that we notice most, but it's the usual mundane world that takes the most lifes.

 

Is there actually something (aside from trying to jump out of the way, hide, ...) that you could do, once you already see the truck coming at you?
And before -just because someone has a "weird" body language, does that help much?
After all, this person has to go and enter a truck afterwards to start running it in crowds.

I think you mostly can try and be observant, when being in crowds, and at the same time not fall victim to paranoia.

 

GRAND GESTURE vs. GRAND THEFT AUTO

I always return to this essay after an attack like this.

As for defending yourself, I think there's precious little you can do. Watch every person's body language as they board a car or truck? While you're in a crowd of bikers? C'mon. You're talking about NYC. You start looking at everyone who has weird body language and that'll eat up your whole day.

 

Watching people who look like they're middle eastern entering vehicles is probably the best type of ineffective, self destructive paranoid you can be involving the least effort.

These types of attacks are on par with natural "acts of god" honestly, like a tree randomly falling over and crushing somebody. The only thing you can do to prepare is be vigilant, which mostly involves not being distracted in public and looking around casually. Don't have headphones in, don't be looking at a text, don't be reading or watching a youtube video as you walk. Don't do anything that removes one of your senses from the equation, specifically vision and hearing. Even in the military and in a combat zone you would be surprised at how many attempts of people trying to kill you are thwarted not by actively seeking out the enemy, but by accident from just being aware of where you are instead of distracting yourself in your mind thinking about the next porter pottie you're going to masturbate in later.

You can't hear the cracking of the falling tree that's about to crush you if you're listening to Beyonce's "Put a ring on it" at full volume.

 

The middle Eastern Muslim stereotype is silly.

Islam doesn't have a race.
- In the UK most Muslims are of south Asian origin.
- In France they are of mostly african origin.
- In Spain they are of mostly north african origin which is difficult to identify as they are the sister ethnic group of many southern Spaniards.
- in Russia they look Russian as something like 50% of Russia is Muslim. (or was that the USSR)
- heck Albanian Muslims I went to school with in London were hitlers ideal of blonde hair blue eye ubermensch.

Plus me personally as a brown person, I'm more likely to have an act of terror happen to me by a white guy misidentifing me as Muslim because of stereotypes.

Truck attacks are used by terrorists regardless of ideology as they are easy to use and unpredictable.

 

I'm a bit baffled in the news by them saying this attack was done "under instruction" from ISIS.
How many instructions do you need to know how to drive a vehicle into pedestrians?

 

I'm curious what it actually means to be in touch with ISIS as well. I'm not a scholar in the subject by any means, but it doesn't strike me that those guys have any kind of centralized command.

 

You're under the impression they conquered half a country by shooting in every direction at random?

 

The coalition in Iraq made a lot of people redundant who had a lot of experience at running a sophisticated intelligence-led police state.

However, I don't think it's known, or we've been told, how that translates to the international theatre. If you were a wannabe jihadi, how would you even know you were in contact with actual ISIS agents? Remember that case of the Australian kid who got arrested for inciting some guy to perform terror attacks, posing as an Al Qaeda recruiter?

Here's a good article on the command structure ISIS used to conquer parts of Syria, and why they did it: The Terror Strategist: Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International

As for defending against (the minuscule risk of) vehicular attacks, of course you can. Just don't go out on the streets. I'd say that was a miscalculation in risk/reward, but if you're genuinely scared about it... Watching who gets into every vehicle is never going to work, and waiting till there's a truck plowing through the crowd you're in is a bit late to start thinking about tactics. Just don't go out. Think of it as living the celebrity lifestyle, except without the entourage and parties

 

Would getting to the rear of the vehicle help? I'm imagining they wouldn't generally take the time to back up/turn around? (Or do they?)

If someone was making a beeline for you in a truck, and you are going to try to dodge it by jumping & rolling to one side or the other, I wonder who generally wins there. (I.e., if it is easy to hit such a target, or if such a target would generally get away, assuming someone who knows how to do a leaping sideways roll properly.)

 

I think a nice, simple rule of thumb is never to rely on anything you haven't done to death in training. I'm not sure anyone would insure you for playing chicken with a truck in class!

 

I don't know that there are many options other than getting into a smaller space the truck can't follow you to, before it gets to you. But if it is right on top of you, what else can you do but leap out of the way one side or the other? I guess try to jump up and roll over it?

I learned sideways leaping rolls and do drill them, though not often now that I no longer take JJJ. I just got padding for my concrete basement floor though and will be able to drill them more frequently. I don't know what else I would do if a truck was right on top of me intent on running me over...

 

Sure, all I'm saying is that there are too many unknown variables to reliably say what might be the best course of action. It's also so unlikely that you would be better served spending your time thinking about other things, IMHO.

 

Do what I do and avoid large crowds and busy places, live in a quiet country village rather than a big urban centre and be a curmudgeonly old git that doesn't like "people" and would rather stay in painting toy soldiers than going out in town. It's kept me safe from violence for decades.

 

Meteor strikes and sink holes, maybe, but it would take more than bad luck for my house to be destroyed in an earthquake!

 

This was more what I was getting at rather than the situation overseas. I'm not sure how tied their online, international outreach efforts are to their military battles. It certainly seems like they're willing to try to take credit for every idiot who decides to perform a mass attack.