car head lights

Posted by: scorpion

car head lights - 10/06/05 05:18 AM

i was alking to my tae kwon do class last night
it was dark and was walking up a hill when a car came down with headlights on and pretty much blinded me as i was walking up the hill.
just thought to myself what if this were to happen if you were in a situation fighting uphill and you have an attacker in front, and car headlights coming down blinding you???

any ideas how to prevent that
Posted by: Gavin

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 05:50 AM

Sun glasses maybe????

This all boils down to environmental awareness and seeking to use your surroundings to your advantage. As the old saying goes, "Always fight with your back to the sun!"

In all honesty I don't think that it would be too big a deal, if you were unfortunate enough to find yourself in a combat situation, your adrenaline would kick in. One effect of the Adrenaline response is tunnel vision as your brain focusses all of its attention on the imeadiate source the danger. Once the adrenaline kicks its more like wearing blinkers.

Don't forget also that when your walking down the road and the car comes down the hill your attention is drawn to the headlights, thus you'll look directly at it. In a combat situation your attention will be centre solely on your opponent, so I think you'd be very unlucky to become blinded by a passing cars headlights.

So, although something to be aware of, I don't think its something to be overly concerned with. The fact that you're considering these sorts of issues show that your awareness is where it should be though, nice one!
Posted by: scorpion

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 06:37 AM

yeah its one of these things i couldnt wrap my head around
Posted by: otobeawanker

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 06:46 AM

The only way to prepare for such a situation is to practice it.

In our fight club we often fight in biased or awkward lighting conditions. We also fight on hills.

I've discoverd being up hill in a fight isn't really too much of an advantage, like you'd think.
Posted by: scorpion

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 06:50 AM

i must admit now its getting dark in the evenings (uk) i tend to sit outside for about 20 mins for my eyes to adjust to the drkness that might help others that have to walk in the dark its a good technique
Posted by: Gavin

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 07:19 AM

Just eat your carrots and you'll be fine! You don't see rabbits walking round with torches do you????
Posted by: funstick5000

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 01:27 PM

Quote:

Just eat your carrots and you'll be fine! You don't see rabbits walking round with torches do you????



no but we don't have a dominant sense of hearing lol.

time to see that surgion riddick mentioned...
Posted by: Cord

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 03:55 PM

its an interesting observation. I do security patrols as the mainstay of my job, quite often in checking buildings we trigger motion sensitive lights. At first this caused disorientation, but as I got to know my surroundings and came to anticipate the light coming on, that sensation diminished and nowadays my eyes are well acustomed to the sudden change in environment.

As a side note to this thread, I have an extra bright bulb in my maglight at work, and when approaching a suspicious person to check their intent and credentials, use of torchlight in the eyes instantly gives you much more control of the situation, as well as being good to direct someone to move without getting too close- its amazing how many people comply by instictively following light at night.
Posted by: funstick5000

Re: car head lights - 10/06/05 04:13 PM

Quote:

its an interesting observation. I do security patrols as the mainstay of my job, quite often in checking buildings we trigger motion sensitive lights. At first this caused disorientation, but as I got to know my surroundings and came to anticipate the light coming on, that sensation diminished and nowadays my eyes are well acustomed to the sudden change in environment.

As a side note to this thread, I have an extra bright bulb in my maglight at work, and when approaching a suspicious person to check their intent and credentials, use of torchlight in the eyes instantly gives you much more control of the situation, as well as being good to direct someone to move without getting too close- its amazing how many people comply by instictively following light at night.


yeah that is pretty strange, they could just ran away then they'd be hidden in darkness. we're all weird creatures.
Posted by: scorpion

Re: car head lights - 10/07/05 05:32 AM

like that...direct people towards the light
Posted by: JKogas

Re: car head lights - 10/07/05 06:41 AM

Although I think it can be silly to go out and try to prepare for every single scenario possible, training in low light conditions isn't a bad idea if you're a bouncer, security guard or LEO.

If you're a bouncer, then you're likely to be aware of how strange club lighting can be, particularly if it's a dance club and there's strobe lighting and odd color combinations moving and spinning together. Imagine coming in from a very bright day into a darkened club or from a dark night into a brighly lit club.

I don't know that you need to start ADDING things into your training mix however to try and "cover" all of this stuff because that's when it starts to get a bit goofy. Perhaps the right thing to do is to pare down everything you do self defense wise into something more simply and universal in nature. This is particularly true if you're a bouncer in one of these joints.


-John