How to Use This Manual

How to use this manual

Successful Stealth Driving can only be achieved by understanding your own driving habits and predicting those of others.

To  make  the  best  possible  use  of  the  Stealth  Driving  manual  simply read through the manual once, highlighting the areas that you genuinely had never considered before. Then, by using the exercises and diagrams shown, you should spend one whole day on each area that you need to learn, not only reading, but going out and practising techniques. Only this way will the vast amount of detail   that is required of a good Stealth Driver be absorbed sufficiently to be of any use. Always use routine driving as a form of exercise. Pick "targets" at random and test your predictive skills. Find a stretch of road to enhance your forward vision and practise the 12 second rule that you will see described later. Fi­nally, you will need to find somewhere off-road and a set of  old tyres to practice your braking  techniques - even if you take professional guidance in this  area.

Copyright and Disclaimers

This manual aims to show the basics of the most successfully used techniques in the field of security  and surveillance. The manual repre­sents accumulated knowledge of years of training in the field using multiple training techniques. We cannot accept responsibility for the misuse or misapplication of any of the information contained herein, nor accept responsibility for any ac­cidents, injuries or other losses, no matter how caused.

Introduction 

The production of this manual and the associated training material is an accumulation of many years experience in  the Security profession by a a man who will only be known as The protector. This manual has been produced as there is a con­stant and ongoing demand for basic information on the areas covered. This information is required by corporate security operatives, private investigators and even police forces and other security organisations.

While we do our best to cover drivers needs, in this particular area it is clear that some readers will only be capable to carrying out all of the skills required if they complete a course of practical training. There are many po­tential sources of such training - details of which are included in the resources section. The majority of you, how­ever, will have already acquired some of the necessary experience and/or skills to allow you to sensibly adopt the techniques contained herein. It is for this reason that we offer the manual in a self-train format.

Why "Stealth Driving"

The term "Stealth Driving" has been adopted as it best describes the role of security or surveillance personnel when using their vehicle operationally. While the true meaning of "Stealth" has little to do with the technology that we associate the term with, both uses of the term are relevant to the skills we will cover. We shall show you how to become "invisible" to your target and other road users while maintain­ing a high level of control of your personal  safety.

Stealth Driving

Driving in a covert fashion to either maintain security or to remain undetected.

"Stealth Driving" is set to become an important extension to traditional driving skills as the World be­ comes a more complicated place in which to live. Many of the contributors to The Protector’s training are currently engaged in providing these skills to various groups in the troubled countries that formed the former So­viet Union. With widespread crime, lawlessness and general anarchy existing in many places, there is a great need for visiting VIPs and businessmen to protect themselves from the most obvious dangers.

Likewise in the field of Private Investigation, there is an increasing use of Pl's for roles as diverse as monitoring employees activities to preventing Industrial Espionage. This has resulted in many opera­tives being caught through a lack of awareness of how operate "covertly". Much of the blame lies with the media, the art of surveillance is often seen as a world where PI's sit in full view of their targets but are never spotted. The real world is completely different from this fantasy environment and the tech­niques used are less obvious.

This Manual Sets Out to Achieve Three Things:

Firstly - an understanding of the professionals ap­proach to the areas of surveillance and low-profile security driving. Some of this may seem to be out­ side of the scope of what you anticipate needing for your own area of involvement, but I have never heard of anybody being too prepared for a surveillance operation, usually the de-brief is loaded with "If only" and "Next time I would".

Secondly - personal safety is a very important area and one which is often ignored, even by profession­ also, once a pattern of working is established. The feeling of invincibility overcomes logic and soon the person is caught out. This can either relate to their own stupidity while driving or to allowing themselves to be caught or exposed to danger. By making the safety of your driving almost automatic, the additional dangers can be more readily avoided or overcome.

Thirdly - and this is the most interesting part, is that the techniques being offered here are selected for their practical aspects and so can be readily taught to family, friends etc. thus improving their own per­sonal safety. It will be many years before there is a government strong enough to enforce stricter driver training, (simply because drivers are voters and therefore must be  allowed to do as they please), so you can anticipate more danger on the roads before things change for the better. This manual is designed to address that balance.

The Need For Different Driving Skills

While many people consider driving to be nothing more than that more and more are finding that the basic skills taught at novice level are nowhere near enough to cover even the most basic driving job. The addition of theory training has helped matters slightly but the reluctance to match Driver Training and Testing to the needs of modern road conditions has done much to case the "Road Rage" and other problems associated with everyday use of the roads.

Road Rage 

A recently invented term for an age-old problem of reacting to another driver's apparently poor driving habits, often in a violent or dangerous way.

This situation would be bad enough for those who use the roads to travel to and from work, but if you add to this the people who use the roads during their work, you will quickly see that greater skills and a completely different knowledge base is essential in order to operate efficiently. Whether you are operat­ing in a security capacity or carrying out surveillance, your needs should comprise the following:

  • The need to drive safely and not cause an accident.
  • The need to avoid being involved  in other people's accidents.
  • The need to be visible to the majority of road users.
  • The need to be invisible to specific road  users.
  • The need to anticipate the actions of other road users.
  • The need to anticipate the decisions made by your target.
  • The skill to carry out all of the above while concentrating  on other factors such as navigation, communication, finding escape routes, remembering secure observation points etc

You can see that for the average driver, even managing the first two elements is a difficult prospect - otherwise we wouldn't pay so much for" car insurance. Add to this the more complex elements listed and you will see the real problem is one of lack of training. "Pro-Active" skills are not automatic and will re­ quire concentration and effort far above that of the average person currently driving a car on the streets   of the UK, but not beyond achievable  limits.

Pro-Active

In driving terms this means the ability to predict the actions of others rather than waiting to see what they do and then react to it. You may find the acquisition of other skills useful to the enhancement of your "Pro-Active" abilities - you should consider driving courses on track driving to improve your awareness of grip and car control,  off-road driving to improve your awareness of balance and stability. If possible some form of skid-control exercises should be tried, whether by skid-pan or the more useful skid-car. These can be used to im­prove your handling abilities in extreme conditions, but also the practice of emergency braking that may one day save your life.

One final point is that in order for you to operate successfully you will need to develop the skill of illu­sion, of appearing to be driving/parking for a purpose other than the surveillance or other mission that  you are engaged in. You will see upon reading the surveillance section just how obvious some people  can be when trying to appear covert. It is not a natural skill to drive in anything other than a normal fash­ion when engaged in these activities, often your instinctive behaviour or other traits will give you away if you do not actively control  them.

Remember, a successful operation is one without unexpected results.