The other side of situational awareness

[Brian Parrish]

I guess I don't understand all the concern over the term "situational awareness"...(snip)...How many times after a motor vehicle crash have you heard someone say, "I didn't see the other "________". Fill in the blank. BS! They weren't being observant. And remember, calling a motor vehicle crash an "accident" is a flat out lie. Someone did something, or didn't do something to cause the crash. An accident is when a June bug inadvertently flies up your butt. That is an accident.

Rick H.

Rick H. Your comments here are spot on!
I appreciate the term in the context you describe, that of LEO training.

Also when the driver says,
"He came out of nowhere!"
That one sounds to me like testifying against yourself.

Thanks!
BrianD

 

[moosedog]

We have no shortage of idiots.

 

[rwsmith]

VERY good point.....

Just because it looks ok from where we are sitting doesn't mean it's ok from where others are.

Gruesome story coming up, don't read further if it will bother you.

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This reminds me of a frightening (true) story along those lines. The water in part of a town started tasting 'funny' and after looking for the easy fixes, they dispatched a crew to check out the water tank. After climbing up they saw that the access hatch was open and some clothing and shoes were by the opening. Someone had decided to go for a swim and from where he was on the top looking down, the water was fine. He didn't realise until after he jumped in that he wouldn't be able to reach the hatch, so there he remained. They had to tear down the tank because no one would drink the water after that and some restaurants in town put signs in their windows, "We don't get our water from the tank."

I've found myself in some situations, fortunately not as serious as this, where I felt too late that I should have gone where I went because the lay of the land (or water) was different from the two perspectives. One when looking where to go and the other the way it looked after I had gotten there.

 

[Fastbolt]

Well, before we get too mired down in trying to define the difference between situational awareness and being observant, let's not overlook the basic concept of common sense.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

Did you hear recently about the "Good Samaritan" killed in Fla. IIRC?

It was a multi car wreck and she was first on scene to help. Got out of her car to help an injured person and was hit by the next car that came slamming into the scene.

It is usually a woman.

Same thing happen in Idaho. Stop to help and she walked into the next swerving car.

 

[Brian Parrish]

Well, before we get too mired down in trying to define the difference between situational awareness and being observant, let's not overlook the basic concept of common sense.

Yes!

Some practical help:
A website called
*-crimegrade dot org-*
There in the box you can enter your zip code.
Then you can view a color graded map of the crime areas in your city or any zip code you are interested in.
Drive to the green areas and do your business there. From there use your phone to search restaurants and gas stations whatever you need. The crimegrade map does not identify every business, so coordinate with your map app to choose the safer option.

There is simply no need to fill up in the worst part of town in the dead of night. If you do, yeah I know right? if you must, then get just a couple of gallons to get to a green area and finish refueling.

I wish we didn't have to think like this...

 

[Exaviator]

The term, "situation awareness" started with aviation, it is a combination of staying ahead of the aircraft and being fully cognisant of the big picture, other traffic, terrain, etc. A well developed sense of SA is what makes the difference between, good pilots and the average.

 

[oberon]

Condition white. (oblivious, numb, blissfully unaware of the surroundings)
Condition yellow. Continuously. (Aware & awake, no surprises)
Condition red. (Fight, take cover, plan escape, survive)
Condition black, it is very likely way too late. (blind panic, hair on fire, still unaware, certainly confused, lose fight, possibly die in the process)
Condition yellow is the practical safe zone. A little fear is a good thing. It can bridge the gap to condition red without a lot of difficulty. Sometimes a lot of fear is better. It can save your gizzard.
Keep in mind that bravery is only well managed fear.
Stay safe, boys. You live, you learn.
Q. How many times have we seen our (often young) colleagues fail to manage fear and come out in worse shape than when they started?
A. Potentially deadly circumstances is no place for cowboys. (YeeHah!) The toughest guys are the ones who can get the job done and show up tomorrow. It ain't rocket science...it's an art form.

 

[greenwellg]

My idea of situational awareness.
Driving down I64 east from Richmond to Hampton Va. Traffic is fairly heavy with occasional gaps, right lane going with the flow.
I see a car in the service lane pointed to the left. Then they decide to pull out in front of me barely fifty feet from my front bumper. Impossible to avoid the collision at 100 feet per second.
When I saw that car I checked the left lane and had just enough time to pull over before the catastrophic wreck ever happened.
This happened before they started to pull over.
I had a previously cleared escape path. would have killed the driver for sure.

 

[steelslaver]

I have been in the Marine Corps, roughnecked in the oil field, learned to drive in a state with no speed limit, commercial fished in Alaska and worked on equipment in an operating oil refinery, In fact, I have lived a such a sheltered life that I have never require things like "situational awareness". All I have ever had to do is pay attention to what was going on around me.

 

[oberon]

/snip All I have ever had to do is pay attention to what was going on around me.

And that is the real trick.
Folks who have never looked the reaper in the face do not know this.

 

[S-W4EVER]

Did you hear recently about the "Good Samaritan" killed in Fla. IIRC?
It was a multi car wreck and she was first on scene to help. Got out of her car to help an injured person and was hit by the next car that came slamming into the scene.

If you are first on the scene, what do you do first?!
Check the injured person closest to where you stopped?
Figure out who is still alive and go help them first?
See who is bleeding and stop the blood first?
Call 911 first?
Nope.
The first job of the first person is to
Secure the area.
Then get somebody else to call 911.
Then start what you can with whom you can.

Thanks for this reminder Brother! Defensive driving!!
So important.

Best!
BrianD

There were times when I responded to a crash (or disabled vehicle) and the driver would complain that no passing motorist stopped. In most cases there was no safe place to stop but many of the passing motorists called 9-1-1 to report the incident. I was usually driving a marked patrol car with emergency lights and a lot of road flares, things most passing motorists don’t have and I’d prefer to not have to investigate two crashes, especially a fatal (which is what a lot of car-pedestrian crashes are on the highway).

 

[LVSteve]

Yes!

Some practical help:
A website called
*-crimegrade dot org-*
There in the box you can enter your zip code.
Then you can view a color graded map of the crime areas in your city or any zip code you are interested in.
Drive to the green areas and do your business there. From there use your phone to search restaurants and gas stations whatever you need. The crimegrade map does not identify every business, so coordinate with your map app to choose the safer option.

There is simply no need to fill up in the worst part of town in the dead of night. If you do, yeah I know right? if you must, then get just a couple of gallons to get to a green area and finish refueling.

I wish we didn't have to think like this...

I'd love to use that crimegrade resource, but that site acts up badly on my computer.

 

[fatcat3]

crimegrade resource: Ha,ha,ha,ha, That was fun.
"The crime rate in ******** is 13.26 per 1,000 residents in the typical year." We don't have 1000 two legged residents. Cows, Hunting" dogs, on the other hand.
"the north parts of ******, ME see the most incidents – about 2 per year." Thats a bit of a shock I can't remember the last.
"In contrast, the west part of the city has the fewest, with approximately 0 crimes annually." Thats because there is nothing there but fields, woods, and two gravel pits.

 

[Model 15-4ever]

...
His "situational awareness" saved his girl. Parking garage. Blind corner. Dark because the lights there were burned out. Getting off the elevator, a kid, any kid, his kid, April, is gonna run out, soon as the door opens, like a horse at Churchill Downs!

The wife and I must have been a couple of authoritarians. We taught our young children to be cautious in public spaces. When they were little they had to be within arms length in precarious public spaces. As they grew, not to run ahead out of public elevators, or into public parking garages, or cross a curb in city traffic, unless they stopped and looked and listened. When they were old enough to have cellphones, they were stowed when walking in public. And as teens they had strict curfews and whereabouts.

We were both LEOs and didn't need to use buzzwords: we said "be observant".

We figured we weren't always going to be around to protect them, and they should learn the unfortunate dangers of the world in an easier way.

To each his own.

 

[mtgianni]

Around 1983 my wife and I were traveling on a two lane highway to get to Pocatello, the nearest big town. We turned a corner where the road narrowed prior to entering the old steel bridge. There was a woman parked off the side of the highway with her door open trying to catch a apparently injured magpie. She was in the rest of the right hand lane. I swerved missing her, centered the magpie with our Datsun 210 and spent the rest of the evening calming my nerves at having narrowly missed her.

I didn't stop to cuss her out as I had no interest in her side of the story and it obviously wasn't a place to stop, even with the 55 mph limit.

There is just no reasoning with some fools.

 

[AJ]

When did the "situational awareness" term take the place of "being observant"?

"Situational awareness" sounds more tacticool than "being observant".

I was taught the term "Situational Awareness" over 40 years ago before the term "Tacticool" was being used. I am guessing it was the military's way of trying to drive "Be Observant" into our brain housing groups. Anyway, most people do not have it no matter which term you use.