Closed Junction

A Give Way junction in an urban or rural area which has little or no vision for emerging vehicles. Often it is difficult to avoid becoming involved in the situation which can provide the opportunity for hi­jacking to occur. Traffic density can cause problems, as can the difficulty of emerging from closed junctions or traffic light controlled situations. Here the same basic rules apply, but need more careful planning to achieve the desired level  of protection: 

• Space the final frontier, which it really is in terms of accident prevention and personal   safety in a vehicle. For some unknown reason, we are obsessed with queuing and occupy­ing as little space in traffic as possible. We either all feel guilty at using our vehicles, or for some reason want to appear to be keeping the queue as short as humanly possible. This is exactly what a mugger or hijacker wants. If the vehicle ahead stops, stop further back and leave your wheels pointing away from the queue. A rear-end shunt may be accidental, or a deliberate act, but either way it is undesirable. Maintain rearward vision and if the vehicle behind appears to be closing too fast, drive away!
• Do not relax your guard. Your autopilot is not a trustworthy means of protection and if you allow yourself to drift away, you will find yourself being taken advantage of by careless  drivers and hijackers alike. Give yourself the opportunity to control the situation and to avoid any conflict. Always be prepared to leave the scene before the incident occurs.
• Do not confine your thoughts when planning your escape route or other defensive op­tions. Pavements, verges, fields, the opposing traffic flow, the central reservation are all vi­able means of escape from either a collision or a hijack situation . In the extreme cases where trouble is predicted, choose options such as side roads - as long as they go some­where - and only stop in positions where these escape routes can be reached if required. You may even consider taking both lanes to prevent the hijackers coming alongside your vehicle.
• Use the vehicle aggressively - is not something most people would naturally do, but if  you have space,  and have your wheels turned towards the assailants as they  approach you,  as soon as you  are  convinced of  their attentions drive at  them to  make  them  scatter,  but try  to avoid running them over. Other people will take notice and they will most likely disappear.
• Have an accident! This may well sound a little extreme, but imagine you have stopped, your assailant has entered the vehicle and in seconds you are being threatened and made  to drive to wherever he tells you. He hasn't had time to put on a seat belt, so accelerate into the back of another vehicle and make the situation public in a dramatic way. Experience shows that in almost  every case, the hijacker disappears very quickly.