I read an interesting article in Time a few weeks back about the average person's reaction in disasters. Most people kind of go into a junior state of shock and sit around WAY too long when they need to be moving. Many more people would have made it on 9/11, for instance, if they had moved instead of thinking about what was happening to them. The psychological reason is that the mind/body is faced with a completely new set of parameters and just doesn't know how to deal with it. Therefore it freezes.

One example was of the, I believe, KLM crash in Los Angeles (all this is from memory and I may have the wrong airline and airport, but the peoples reactions are accurate). An elderly man (roughly late 60s) who survived a house fire when he was a child, and thus, was motivated to spend a bit of time studying exits and planning his moves ahead of time, was one of the first to move, he phsically dragged his wife up, and headed for the exits. They called to a friend sitting directly behind them to follow them, she was "frozen". They lived, she died.

All this is not meant to be scary, simply informative. Flying is EXTREMELY safe, but crashes do occur and, surprisingly, about 50% of the people involved in crashes survive. Give yourself your best chance. Pick out exit doors, paths, and mentally plan on how to "unass" the aircraft in a hurry if the need arises. Don't sit there waiting for directions. As soon as the shit stops flying, start moving. And don't go for your carry ons, for Pete's sake. Same kind of thinking applies to hotel exits, especially on upper floors.

That is why air hostesses are trained to scream in peoples faces to get them moving in an evacuation.

No "This way, please, sir" but "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

/Martin

Marterius, that sounds more like how they board you on the ticketless budget airlines!!

It's like when I taught my wife and three daughters how to drive, if something bad is happening:

Either stop, turn or go faster but do something! Never wait for events to overtake you!

How true! I was in the World Trade Center 10 minutes before plane 1 struck. I made my way to my meeting, two blocks away and met a friend who managed the building. We went to the top floor to get a look at the damage. At that time we didn't know it was an act of terrorism. We thought it was an accident. As we watched the second plane hit, we immediately evacuated the building and knew this wasn't an accident.

The curius thing is what everyone did upon evacuation. Some went to the towers to watch. I on the other hand walked to midtown and tried to stay away from significant landmarks.

We all know as hunters that the hardest target to hit is one that is in motion. We also know that targets that are distant are harder to hit than those in proximity. This all seems so basic but any drill sargeant can tell you that getting people up off their behind when danger is imminent is a lot harder to do than to theorize about. There are some who would believe you can train people in this survival behaviour but I am not so sure. You can certainly improve someone's abilities by having those with experience relate what they did to avoid being killed, but I think that there is something inate about having the right reflexes, perhaps its genetic.

Another point that was driven home by the Trade Towers disaster was that in today's tech heavy environment the average person is usally better informed than those in charge. Defy authority and take control of your own fate. Many people in the second tower knew what was happening and wanted out, but were told by their supervisors and security to remain where they were.

One study of reactions in emergencies showed that 10% act in a calm rational way, the other 90% freak out in one way or another. Their interviews with disaster survivers showed that you have an extremely short time to understand that there is an emergency, develop a plan and carry out that plan.

Anyone recall the Luby's massacre in Killeen, Texas on Oct 16, 1991? George Hennard drives his truck through the front window and then walks through the restaurant and shoots 22 people before shooting himself during a gunfight with police.

I was an off duty police shift supervisor so I didn't make the shooting, but arrived on scene about an hour after it was over to assist for the next 12 hours or so.

Witnesses described how when Hennard started shooting, people just sat in their seats in an unbelieving, frozen state. Several died because he could just walk up to them and execute them.

I made up my mind that day that when the proverbial brown stuff hits the spinning fan blades, I'm doing SOMETHING!! I refuse to be executed like a steer led to a slaughter.

JDS

Some years ago I was involved peripherally with the investigation into a fire at a motel that killed some 26 people. All the deaths occurred in conference rooms being use by businesses. I was struck by the fact that people in one such conference room that was in the exact same area as where the deaths occurred had sustained no casualties. On inquiry, I found that two men had taken charge in the room. First, they ordered that no one open the doors (incidentally, a rule #1 if the door feels hot) and secondly they arranged escape through windows on the second floor. (There was soft ground below and they also arranged for the first jumpers (about 12 feet) to catch or break the fall of the ones who came after.

I was not an arson investigator by occupation but I spoke to some of the best in the country at the time and was told that breaking the "psychology" of the herd in a disaster is what keeps people alive. Many human beings apparently have a tendency, like a herd under attack, to bunch together. It's those exceptional types who keep themselves and others alive.

Wink:

I wish I hadn't thrown that magazine out, so I could name the researcher and I'm sure that you are right that there are people who react faster and better to imminent danger than most others. However, the researcher found that many of the survivors of plane crashes, etc that were able to react first and faster than others had mentally prepared themselves ahead of time with pre-planning for worst case scenarios, thinking of exits, "what-ifs", etc. His explanation was that by so doing, the survivor's brains had mentally prepared some type of course of action to follow and thus were able to process the situation and react sooner without having to get more data or for their brain to come up with responses when presented with a completely new and threatening scenario.

The Kileen restaurant shooting above is a perfect example. Moving, whether fleeing or attacking even with your hands or a fork would certainly have been a better response than sitting there "frozen" and waiting to see what happened. Instead the victims and others were presented with a scenario for which they had no strategy and the lack thereof made them sit there.

That posters response is what I am trying to say, think ahead without being paranoid, and when and if something horrendous happens, hopefully you'll be among the survivors.

Charlie,

I agree with your posts..If one survives the intial crash one must beat his way out survive at all costs..People are try to get out overhead bags purses....I always make it a practice to know how to get out...I always count my doorways in a hotel to the fire exit...

Mike

And this is posted on the African Big Game Hunting forum because...........?

......because most of us fly quite a bit for hunting or one reason or another and while it is extremely unlikely, the information in this post might save someone's life. That's why.

quote:

Originally posted by Marterius:
That is why air hostesses are trained to scream in peoples faces to get them moving in an evacuation.

No "This way, please, sir" but "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

/Martin

I thought they scream in your face "FASTER, FASTER, FASTER!" Oops that is in the hotel room.

Great thread Gatorgordo

Another thing is driving were there can be robberies etc. In Poland were we have a company it´s common for car jackers to bump the car in front a little at red lights and then when the driver goes out another of the thieves steels the car. So police recomedations is to drive on directly to a police station and report, also if you see a police officer outside town and no car you don´t have to stop just report to nearest police station. There has been a lot of car jacking from thieves in fake uniforms.

What I do when driving is to try to not get stuck at redlight, otherwise see so I have a breakout way. Also when driving long distances to stop for a minute at a petrol station if yuo have a car that´s been after you a long time.