so one question for ya, if you see a group further up the road you need to pass, and think could be trouble, do you cross the road and obviously try to avoid passing right by them, or hold your own and skim past? No need to provoke, but crossing shows weakness. Tough call.
In my experience there is no hard and fast rule.
What i'd personally do would depend on a fair few factors.
1/ What area am i in.
If i'm in a quiet town and they're just local kids i'd walk straight through, if i was in a known bad estate with known gang and violent crime i'd need a bit more info from below.
2/ What is their behaviour like.
If they looked like drugged up thugs then you stand a better chance if it does come to violence BUT there is also a higher risk of a life threatening injury of death, as in my experience these types really don't care.
3/ Are you on a quiet alley or a major street.
Not as though any body would step up and help these days, but it might be busy enough to put off some types.
4/ What's my state of mind like, what clothes am i wearing.
If i'm knackered, tired drunk etc then i might not be able to trust my judgement 100%.
For clothes if i'm in shorts and sandles then i'll be less likely to do as much foot damage than if i'm coming home from work in steel toe caps.
I guess what i'm saying is, there is no hard and fast rule for this sort of stuff, a lot depends on many many things.
As an example, purely based on state of mind, i've ran away from guys that look like they'd fall over if i farted and stood toe to toe and slogged it out with bouncers who's arms were bigger than my legs.
Another thing is, it's ok saying a "big stick" is a solution, unfortunately though in this day and age i'm in absolutely no doubt if you used a big stick to defend yourself then you'd be up on charges.
A tactic many clued up gangs use, is to press charges for assault simply so they can get more details on your name, where you life etc.
They get the cops to investigate and do their work.
Once they've got this info you'll be experiencing a fair bit of bother, from vandalism to your car, property etc, to violence or threats of violence against you and your family.
If it comes to that it's far better to pick something up in the area, like a fence post, rock etc.
That way it's not premeditated and it's clear you were using reasonable force to defend yourself.
Lastly a bluff often works if you know how to carry it off.
Had 5 youths approach me in a known bad estate once, it was obvious by their clothes and demeanour that they were the wannabe gansta types.
I got the usual "you got a fag" and knew something was likely to knick off.
As a couple started moving round to surround me i kinda looked around to see who was watching and if there were any cars, at the same time as i reached for the area between my jeans and my back.
they all understood i was going for my firearm and stepped off pretty quickly.
Thing is i had absolutely nothing there, it was all a bluff.
Now if they were carrying a firearm, or they'd have called my bluff i'd had been screwed.
But because i was acting confident, gave em that "this is EXACTLY what i've been waiting for" smile and looking around in a "make sure they're no witnesses" way i got away with it.
So a lot of it is simply thinking on your feet and knowing the mentality or these thugs and weighing up the risks versus walking away.
