Originally Posted by SuzyQ
I am a small female and tho I try to plan ahead, I sometimes find myself riding thru sketchy neighboorhoods at night by myself. Have been thinking about carrying mace or pepper spray, am wondering if anyone has any experience or suggestions on these options? Also, I am terrified of dogs and am wondering if either of these products work work in a dog attack situation as well.
Thx for your feedback!
Hi Suzy,
It's good you're thinking about personal security, and not just trying to calm your fears with bromides about having "confidence", the "right attitude", and so on. Those things are important, to be sure, but in the real world sometimes you need more than inner peace.
Before saying anything about the pepper spray, I'll say this. Can you leave those neighborhoods? Avoid them on your route? Or even move? I'm not kidding here. If these places are freaking you out, then there's a good reason to be somewhere else.
Nowhere is perfectly safe, of course, and sometimes life being what it is you live in a place with some risk. I understand. But it's worth mentioning.
I'll say this, too. When it comes to specific dicey situations, the best thing to do is avoid them. Turn tail and ride the other way, even if it seems to the whole world you're afraid.
Weapons shouldn't change this way of thinking. If anything, you should be more careful to avoid trouble if you've got a weapon, and that includes pepper spray. If you think you might have to use it, try and find a way out. The idea should be, if you're pulling it out, you're going to use it. And if you're going to use it, you're in a *bad* situation already.
Pepper Spray:
All right, that said, get pepper spray, not mace. Mace is usually more strictly controlled than pepper spray, and harder to get.
Pepper spray varies in its intensity. The proper way to measure it is by Scoville Heat Units, or SHU. *Don't* pay attention to the concentration of oleoresin capsicum in the formula-- that's what the manufacturers usually emphasize when they sell pepper spray at 5%, or 10%, or whatever. Look at the SHU rating, usually some number in the millions.
Or, you can save time, and go here and buy this:
www.foxlabs.com
Fox labs' sprays are over 5 million SHU, about twice the intensity of the stuff you can buy at the army surplus store or most gun shops. That's what I use. Tough stuff.
I'd love to see a cyclist with the shoulder sling and metal tank sometime. But you probably can get away with a 3 oz unit.
Do yourself a favor and don't keep the spray in your pocket. Even with the "safety" top on the unit you're going to make the canister squirt a little spray as you move about. Then, you can count on your skin being irritated near the saturation point every time you wear those pants for weeks. *Several* washings won't help. Trust me here.
You'll have to decide about your purse. But unless you want your hands itching every time you reach in there, make sure the canister isn't pressed against anything.
Don't get the foam, that stuff is hard to aim properly at any distance. But if you use the spray, *don't* spray it into the wind.
The stuff really works, though bear in mind really angry people and drunk people are less affected. If you buy some, spray yourself sometime and see what it's like. If you dare....
It is murder on dogs-- if you can spray them. Most dogs are pretty cagey, though. The aggressive ones, especially, have had people throw things at them, try to hit them with sticks, and so on, so if you are going to try to spray them they usually keep their distance. If you do spray a dog, though, trust me, he won't forget. You probably won't have any trouble ever again with that dog.
Dog problems are another topic altogether, though, and there about seventeen hundred threads on the topic all through this forum. Have a look at those.