A woman pulled into her driveway, turned off her car, and sat for a few moments looking at her phone. She didn’t notice a man slowly walking down the sidewalk in front of her house. Quicker than you can say one-thousand-one, the guy ran to her car, opened her door, and jerked her right out of the driver’s seat.

While he was doing that, a second man, who had been standing across the street, ran over and hopped into the passenger seat. The first man punched the woman, knocking her down. He took her purse and her phone, then got into the driver’s seat. The woman staggered to her feet and watched as the man backed her car out of the driveway and drove off.

The whole thing was captured on a security camera. From beginning to end, it took 12 seconds.

In the situation above, the man on the sidewalk didn’t look suspicious. Or did he? He was someone the woman didn’t know. And there was another man across the street. Also someone she didn’t know.

What should she have done? If the security camera could see the two men, she certainly could have, too. Suspicious or not, they were people she didn’t know, so locking her car doors and not being distracted by her phone would have been a good plan.

No matter where you are, in a supermarket parking lot, on a downtown street, or even in your own driveway, look around before unlocking your car and getting out. If you must check your phone, do it in the car with the doors locked. When done, take a second look around before unlocking and getting out.

I’m not talking about extreme paranoia here, I’m talking about a quick and simple automatic scan and being smart.

Security footage from a gas station showed a man get out of his car, insert and withdraw his credit card, and begin pumping his gas. The whole time his head was down, focusing on what he was doing. The camera saw, and the fellow should have, a large man stride across the parking lot, straight at him. The gas pumper was unaware of the man until the moment the guy punched him in the face.

Another video showed a woman in a similar situation. Her head was up and she saw a man walking towards her. She stopped pumping and pulled the nozzle from her car, ready to douse the man with gasoline. He veered away and kept on walking. She waited until he was a safe distance away before reinserting the nozzle in her car.

When I was in the Army, we were trained to “have our head on a swivel.” That is, have our heads up, and be aware of our surroundings.

Eight years ago, I wrote about situational awareness. I revisit the topic now, because violence and crime have increased. Search for situational awareness on the Internet to learn some basic, head on a swivel skills. Teach them to your family.