20+ Smart Tips From Internet Users to Safely Get You Out of Risky Situations

No matter how excellent your survival skills are, there is always room for improvement. When things go downhill, it’s impossible to predict the outcome, but knowing how to act and what to do can save your life or someone else’s. And sometimes it’s the simple tricks that can help you weather through a challenging event without major consequences or avoid the possible accident altogether. So get ready to take some notes as we bring you a selection of the most useful tips shared by Internet users in this Reddit discussion.

• If a service dog comes to you for attention, immediately locate its owner, they could be using the dog in a last-ditch effort to get help.
  
  Akhenatenaten / Reddit

• When you’re making a turn while facing oncoming traffic, keep your wheels straight ahead until there is an opportunity for you to make the turn. If your wheels are facing into the turn and someone hits you from behind, they will push you into the oncoming traffic, and that’s not going to end well.

TheMotorcycleBoy / Reddit

• If you’re stuck in a stampede, your chances of surviving decrease significantly if you get knocked down. If this happens and you can’t get up immediately, get into a protective position with your hands covering your head and your feet tucked up. Try to turn your face in the direction the crowd is moving so you don’t get kicked. If you can, try to get back on your feet ASAP.

Ammadu_LetsdoKummudu / Reddit

• If you’re outside in a lightning storm and your hair starts standing up, seek immediate shelter because you’re likely soon to be struck by lightning. If immediate shelter (within 15 seconds of movement) is not available, put both your feet together, squat down on the balls of your feet, and grab your ankles. If you’re stuck, this will give the lightning a direct path down to the ground and hopefully minimize damage.

Deodorized / Reddit

• Pay attention to your gut and natural intuition. If you feel like you’re in danger, it’s because you’re in danger, even if you can’t quite articulate why. If a person seems sketchy or threatening, it’s because they are. Intuition is finely developed by evolution, and generally speaking, it will only fail you when you make yourself deny it in order to appear polite or please someone.

StaplerLivesMatter / Reddit

• If you’re performing CPR on someone, don’t stop until EMTs come. Don’t stop after 2 minutes, thinking that the situation is hopeless just because the person didn’t suddenly regain consciousness. CPR usually won’t cause the victim’s heart to suddenly restart — it’s mostly to force blood circulation and keep a body in a “revivable” state until paramedics arrive.

blznaznke / Reddit

• Cayenne pepper is a hemostatic (stops bleeding) agent. I have saved lives with it. I literally carried it in my medic bag when I was a cop.

Unknown Author / Reddit

• Put a label on your child’s car seat with their name, date of birth, and emergency contacts that are NOT their mom and dad. Also, list any severe allergies. If you are incapacitated in an accident, the baby will be transported in the car seat to the ER. We need to know who the baby is and who can answer questions about them. The reason we need a contact besides mom and dad is that they are the ones most likely to be in the accident with the baby.

slhopper / Reddit

• If attacked, don’t aim between the attacker’s legs. You can push and kick the person in the kneecap, and if you hit squarely, they will collapse 100% of the time regardless of size.

spiralout1123 / Reddit

• If someone is choking but they are coughing/talking, do not intervene right away and let them try to cough it out first. The ability to cough is a sign that air is able to get in and out and that they only have a partial obstruction in their airway. If you try to intervene with back blows or the Heimlich, you could force it out, or you could dislodge the blockage and cause a full obstruction.
  
  Loubang / Reddit

• While waiting to cross at a stoplight, don’t stand in front of a pole or building that you’ll be pinned against if a car in the oncoming traffic goes out of control. Always stand behind a pole or a little bit back from the intersection.

Unknown Author / Reddit

• If someone is in trouble in the water, avoid direct contact with that person because their mindless panic can put you in danger. Use something like a pole, float, towel, or rope and use it to bridge the gap between you. If you must get close to them, come up from behind and slip your arm across their chest. Pull the person back to your chest, making sure their arms can’t reach you.

IThinkThingsThrough / Reddit

• If driving on ice or snow, put your phone in a zippered pocket on your body. Then if you spin out and/or roll, it won’t fly away from you and you can call for help.

hart06** / Reddit

• If you stop sweating when you’re outdoors in the heat, you’re in trouble. You are severely dehydrated and at high risk for heat stroke. You need to get inside ASAP and hydrate. If you can’t keep water down, go to the hospital for an IV. You should always be sweating if it’s hot and you’re doing strenuous work. Also, never drink icy water when you’re hot. You should drink room-temperature water instead.
  
  Dirt-McGirt / Reddit

• When approaching a traffic accident site, come from the front and keep the victims’ attention with a flashlight or loud speech. Coming from the side might get the injured people in the car to turn their heads to look at you and damage their spinal cords. Make sure that the people involved know to keep their heads still.

Jumbobog / Reddit

• You should go to the hospital immediately if you feel sleepy after a head injury. People have ended up in life-threatening situations because they tried to sleep off those types of headaches and serious symptoms were caught too late. I learned this from Reddit.

Wajirock / Reddit

• Use F.A.S.T. to identify if someone is having a stroke.
  F is for facial drooping: Part of the face is drooping and the person has difficulty moving it. For example, it can appear as a crooked smile.
  A is for arm weakness: the inability to raise one’s arm (or leg) fully.
  S is for speech difficulties: the inability or difficulty to produce or understand speech.
  T is for time: If any of the symptoms above are present, time is of the essence; call the emergency services ASAP or go to the hospital.
  
  -eDgAR- / Reddit

• Never go on ice unless it is at least 4 inches thick — 6 inches if you have a snowmobile and 8 inches for a small car. 12 inches for medium trucks. Clear ice is stronger than “snow ice.”

hungryamerican / Reddit

• Learn a proper backstroke. Not only is it pretty efficient, but it can also save your life.
  
  bigw*** / Reddit

• If a person falls off a motorcycle/scooter and you find them unconscious, do not take off their helmet. You never know what kind of head injury they have and by removing the helmet you might make it worse.

johnfiesto / Reddit

• If you work with stuff that can easily cut someone (like sheet or scrap metal) or do any construction or factory work, always wear a belt. Even if you don’t need one to hold your pants up, a belt can be a quick easy tourniquet and save a life.
  
  Therew0lf17 / Reddit

• If your car breaks down in a secluded area far away from civilization, stay with it. You can burn a tire during daylight to draw attention. Somebody is likely to see the thick, black smoke and call the rescue service.
  
  Scrappy_Larue / Reddit

• If you do get caught up in an undercurrent and notice you’re getting dragged slowly out to sea, do not swim directly toward the shore. Instead, swim parallel to the shore until you don’t feel yourself being pulled out, then swim directly toward the shore.
  
  HardCounter / Reddit

• If you get stuck in an avalanche and find yourself buried under the snow, try spitting out some saliva from your mouth. Gravity can help you distinguish which way is up and down so you can dig yourself out. People easily get disoriented and dig in the wrong direction and get tied quickly, which you can’t afford to do.
  
  tootmyfloot / Reddit

• Listening to the song ’’Stayin’ Alive’’ by the Bee Geese while doing CPR can help you maintain the ideal rhythm of 100-120 compressions per minute.
  
  drdeteck / Reddit

• If you find yourself needing help in a public place, seek attention from one person, not from the crowd because everyone will think “somebody else will help him/her.” This is called the bystander effect.
  
  Unknown Author / Reddit
  

• I think the general thing to keep in mind is that in high-stress moments, you will not rise to the occasion, but you will sink to your level of training.
  
  Huplup / Reddit

Were you familiar with any of these facts before reading this article? If you have another life-saving tip to add, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments.