Women's Safety Information

Many women as well as a surprising number of men do not know the basics of vehicle maintenance therefore fear being taken advantage of when they have a vehicle problem. The reason I stated “a surprising number of men” is because we tend to think men know about vehicles just based on gender. But with our lives becoming so busy and full, many men don’t have the time or desire or necessity of working on their own vehicles.

Good Shop, Bad Shop

There are a lot of reputable repair shops out there but the bad or unethical ones, introduced to us by news cameras or friends who paid too much for repairs, are the ones that stick in our minds inspiring fear.

The reason an unethical repair shop might rip someone off is that, they know we are dependent upon our vehicles and do whatever is necessary to get fix them. Whatever is necessary may differ drastically between shops.

Empower Yourself With Vehicle Basics

As the daughter of a military airplane mechanic and vehicle mechanic, I want the same empowerment of vehicle knowledge for all women that I’ve been blessed with since I was a little girl.

In this article, you will learn simple, basic steps you can take to not only maintain your vehicle but gain knowledge to give repair shops a heads up that you are not the person to take advantage of. You will also have an opportunity to receive one of my most popular documents to help you further. Sound good? Read on…we’ll take a short journey through what was formerly known as “man land” and make ourselves safer in the process.

You Might Be Asking…Question: How often does my vehicle need to be checked out?

Answer: At least twice per year (exceptions below) and Spring and Fall are great reminders; before extreme heat or cold.

Question: What is the best way to keep my vehicle healthy?

Answer: Learn the basics of what your healthy vehicle should look like so that you can provide health care instead of sick care.

Here are some examples:

tires should be properly inflated (monthly or more often and if vehicle pulls left or right while driving) spare tire should be present, in good condition and properly inflated (your life may depend on it) oil and filter should be changed every 3,000 – 5,000 miles depending on your vehicle model radiator coolant should be present and accounted for, proper level windshield wiper blades should wipe cleanly, may need replacement annually wiper fluid for severe weather or bug season head lights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals should all work well brakes should be in good condition and quiet brake fluid at proper level transmission fluid present and accounted for at correct level all belts should be in excellent condition and replaced immediately when worn or dry watch for leaks or weird smells
Question: Where should I take my vehicle for these checks?

Answer: Great question! Ask around for referrals, check out reviews online and look before you need something done. If you go to a reputable lube and oil shop for an oil change, they should check tire pressure and condition among other things. Since they do not sell tires, they have no commission incentive to be dishonest. They can check other things too like belts and fluids. You may need to ask and possibly pay a little extra. It is probably worth it. Of course, if your vehicle is under warranty, you can go to the dealership for serious issues (they will probably wash and vacuum it before giving it back but sometimes charge a lot more for simple oil changes, etc.).

You might even look up a high school mechanics shop and arrange for a student to check the simple things, or a friend who can check tires, fluids and simple stuff on the side (at your own risk). I’ve checked many a girlfriend’s vehicle myself and replaced headlights, turn signal bulbs, etc. As the daughter of a mechanic, auto parts super stores are like Disneyland to me! (Don’t tell anyone else that, okay?) Fact: It is truly possible to be a girly girl and still know enough about vehicles to keep you out of avoidable trouble.

Trust Your Gut Feelings

I have to mention this because it is the key to unlock your safer future. (Read my other articles on Women’s Personal Safety Secrets) Remember to trust your gut feelings! If you get the “creeps” in a mechanic’s shop, leave like a tree. If it feels wrong it’s wrong, period! That is why it is good to find someone you trust before you are in a desperate situation.

So, how does it feel to know more about your car, truck, van or SUV? Of course, these are just some basics but that may be all you need. Check out the bonus I created with my dad in the paragraph below. And congratulations, you are now safer and know more about vehicles than many men and most women.



By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

Fellow women, listen up!

We know that everyone needs safety right? Women are often the ones who promote safety at work, at home and with friends. Teens and kids don’t always know they need safety measures and men feel safer than we usually do because of their gender. The truth is, attackers and victims are both male and female.

We can all be approximately 95% safer from creeps and criminals just by learning these Top 5 Women’s Personal Safety Secrets. How? Prevention is 90% awareness. So if you know the five secrets, you can’t help but be at least 5% safer!

The 3 main reasons you haven not heard “The Secrets” before:

The secrets are simple and we tend to make things much more complicated than they need to be – When everyone learns how simple personal safety is, there will be far fewer victims. Most people avoid the topic of personal safety due to fear of acknowledging their vulnerability to crime – Burying our heads in the sand and hoping the subject of crime disappears makes us more likely targets of attackers. The focus of most safety information is negative, random safety tips and ineffective self-defense techniques – Safety must be taught in the positive what to do manner!
Top 5 Women’s Personal Safety Secrets (to share with loved ones)

Understand the “attacker” mindset – The key to knowing where someone is going is to know where they are coming from. Confident body language – Speaking this language can save your life. Your voice is your #1 weapon – Knowing the power in your own voice and how to use it effectively is vital to preventing yourself from becoming a victim. Establish and enforce personal boundaries – Knowing what is acceptable and unacceptable to you before something happens allows you to protect your personal space. Trust your gut feelings above all else – The job of these survival instincts is to keep you alive.

As you can see, each of these five personal safety secrets is very important and may, individually, repel attackers. However, putting them all together and practicing them into habits can provide you with a tremendous amount of safety, peace of mind and empowerment in your daily life.



By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

There are some basic steps that you can take to help lower your risk of falling victim to sexual attack. Some of these things you might already know but many women still ignore them because they have the “it won’t happen to me” mentality but sadly it can happen.

Here are some easy to follow safety tips to try and avoid being sexually assaulted.

o Always be aware of your surroundings.
o Do you best to always walk with a friend
o Walk only in well lit areas of streets, driveways and parking lots.
o NEVER EVER leave your drink unattended. Date rape drugs are easy to find and can get you raped and even worse, killed.
o Don’t get intoxicated – it may sound silly but as a woman you are a target for the creeps of the world and quite frankly when drunk, judgment and safety go out the door.
o If you are being followed by a man – break out the mace or pepper spray if you have it, stay in lit areas and go into the first public place you find. Keep looking back so the person knows you can’t be surprised and hopefully he will just go away
o If a driver pulls up and asks directions, don’t get too close to the car so you can’t be grabbed or simply say you can’t help and keep moving.
o Avoid passing too close to big bushes, dark doorways, alleys or any other places of concealment.
o Try to walk facing oncoming traffic to make it easier to be seen if help is needed
o Only use the busier bus stops instead of the deserted ones. You want witnesses.
o If you must frequently walk alone at night, vary your route often as to not develop a distinguishable pattern.
o Don’t wear headphones while walking or jogging, even during the day because you may not hear an attacker’s approach. Plus it makes you look like a “good target”.
o If you plan to jog alone, stay in public areas. Try to carry a personal alarm system and pepper spray at a minimum.
o If someone asks you for directions on the street, and you do choose to reply to them, be sure to remain at least 4 feet away so that you are not within arms reach.
o If meeting friends out, be sure to let them know the route you are taking and when you plan to arrive.
o Park only in well lit, open areas.
o Be extra cautious when parking in parking garages – try and park near the exit/entrance. Ask a coworker to walk with you to the parking garage if at night
o Try not to park next to any type of van. You could easily be pulled into the van through the sliding or side door.
o Check your rear view mirror often and if you think you are being followed, never drive to your home or pull over in a deserted area. Drive straight to the nearest police station, fire station, gas station, friends home or other well lit building and honk your horn until help arrives.
o Have your keys in your hand while approaching your vehicle.
o Never pick up a hitchhiker no matter nice or safe they may look.
o Don’t stop to assist a disabled motorist. Instead call the police and ask them to go and help the motorist out.
o Always check the back seat, floor and under the car before approaching and entering your vehicle.

These are just a few common sense tips that hopefully got you thinking. You brain is your best defense weapon, use it often and hopefully danger will never find you.

Remember to go with your gut feelings, if you feel uneasy there is probably a reason for it so better safe than sorry. Get to safety!

By: Charles Dougherty

About the Author:

As women, we are often responsible for teaching kids and teens about personal safety and there is one word that must deleted from our vocabulary to do it effectively. This one word has been used so often it is a habit for most of us; a habit that doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t even absorb into the subconscious mind, which is why it gets people killed every day. That one word is “don’t.”


“Don’t” is one of the most dangerous words in the english language and puts people of all ages in jeopardy every hour of every day.

The reason for the danger of this word is that the subconscious mind (the mind tells our body what to do) does not understand it because it can’t visualize not doing something. It can visualize doing something else, which is why we must express what TO do instead. This fact is serious enough to be taught by every teacher and should be a top story on every news broadcast but instead, “don’t” is used relentlessly by the very people who are baffled by its ineffectiveness.

Have you ever wondered why you told someone not to do something and they did it anyway? Did you think they were trying to make you mad or purposely go against your wishes? Maybe, but chances are much higher that they got a picture in their mind of doing exactly what you told them not to do. Negative words like “don’t,” “not,” “no” and “never” cannot be visualized and so they are ignored.

Danger: the subconscious mind takes in everything as if it is the truth; as if it is a viable option.

So, as we teach kids and teens (and other adults, for that matter) about safety, it is vital that we teach what TO do instead of what not to do. This cuts the communication in half and only provides the correct and safest option.

Scary Example: What if your 10 year old learns 10 things about a specific dangerous situation and eight of the ten things are what not to do while only two of the ten things are what TO do? All ten things learned enter the subconscious mind as viable options. That means, should that situation arise, your child only has a 20% chance of choosing the right thing to do.

So when you teach kids and teens about personal safety, make sure and focus on what TO do and delete the word “don’t” from your vocabulary.

By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

Dating nightmares are seen as part of dating game but how many of us are aware of their lasting affect on our self-esteem? Avoiding pregnancy, disease, stalkers, and physical abuse are obvious goals in dating but we also must protect our self-esteem. How many times have we dated someone not because we picked them but because they picked us? The tips to avoiding dating nightmares to protect your mental and emotional well-being are quite simple, though simple things can still be challenging.

Healthy Self-Esteem Trust Your Gut Feelings Personal Boundaries
Part 1 – Healthy Self-Esteem

You must have healthy self-esteem prior to dating or you will attract insecure men with low self-esteem. This creates an insecure, jealous couple dependent upon the stability the other person who doesn’t have it to begin with much less, extra to share.

The Result: A tumultuous relationship and an emotionally and mentally draining and damaging breakup equating to lower self-esteem for both involved. By not insuring your healthy self-esteem prior to dating, you have just instigated an attack on your own mental and emotional states!

I truly believe that a healthy couple is created by two complete individuals coming together as a third entity. That way, when you are apart, you are “part of something” not “half of something.”

The Solution: Take the time to become the person you would fall in love with in order to attract the same caliber of man to you. Make sure you are happy with who you are first and foremost. It may take months or even years but how much time have we all invested in dating the wrong men? Doesn’t it make more sense to spend time creating a healthy relationship before you ask someone to join it?

This may seem backwards because we are used to picking a person (who makes us happy) to date and then creating a relationship but that has brought us a 50+% divorce rate! No one can make you happy. Happiness is within you. I loved “Jerry McGuire” too but the “you complete me” line was Hollywood! So many people are looking for someone to complete them. If you do not feel complete all by yourself, saddling someone else with your insecurities is a trip down Nightmare Avenue and you will never become a whole person!

If you attract men who are incomplete and looking for someone to complete them, remember that you attract what you are and you need to work on yourself not them. Stop dating and build your self-esteem. When you feel like you don’t even need a man, that is when you are healthy enough to have an excellent relationship.

My poor decisions took me down the road of rape and domestic violence and they stemmed from my lack of healthy self-esteem. You don’t want that to happen to you, your friends or your daughters, do you? Then take it from me, someone who’s been there, healthy self-esteem and loving who you are will give you a whole new life! The choices in men will be fewer because there are less of them with healthy self-esteem as well but quality always trumps quantity.

As “Your Personal Safety Trainer,” my top safety tip for dating women is you must have healthy self-esteem to avoid dating nightmares!

By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

Dating nightmares and other weird or dangerous situations can be prevented by trusting survival instincts you were born with, your gut feelings. Many women go down Dating Nightmare Boulevard because instead of picking someone to date, they just date whoever picks them. I ignored bad gut feelings prior to dating two men several years apart. One of them raped me and I ended up in a domestic violence relationship with the other one for two and a half years, narrowly escaping with my life. Let me share what I’ve learned about gut feelings with regard to dating so you can be safer than I was. These tips to avoid dating nightmares are simple but not always easy:

Healthy Self-Esteem Trust Your Gut Feelings Personal Boundaries
Part 2 – Trust Your Gut Feelings

You have good or bad gut feelings about every person, place and situation in your life. The terms, “I had a feeling,” and “I just couldn’t put my finger on it,” are all about gut feelings. Housed in our stomach or solar plexus area (hence the term “gut feelings”), our emotional center, they warn us of danger and give us warm, fuzzy feelings if things are safe.

When people cross their arms in front of their chest to look tough, they are actually feeling vulnerable and protecting their emotional center. Next time, they won’t look so tough to you, will they? Challenge someone on something and see how long it takes them to cross their arms.

Fine-Tuning Gut Feelings

Who you should and should not date will be extremely clear as you fine-tune your gut feelings. Pay attention to how you feel when you speak with someone, go somewhere, experience something. Notice if your stomach area feels tight, relaxed, tense, upset or warm and fuzzy. You don’t necessarily have to follow all of them but when you feel a particularly strong gut feeling, you’ll know the importance of taking it seriously. As you acknowledge these feelings, you’ll be much better at reading people and knowing if they are a good fit for you while avoiding dating nightmares.

Dating & Gut Feelings

Since most people are on their best behavior on a first date and unsure of how long they can keep it up, first dates are a circus for chaotic feelings. If your gut feelings are fine-tuned (which may only take a few weeks with dedication), you will feel the true sense of who someone is instead of the chaos.

Glossing over gut feelings in the dating world is an epidemic. Because we want to go out or love what the other person brings to the table we tend to ignore negative gut feelings. The more you get to know someone you had an initial bad gut feeling about, the deeper you go into an unhealthy relationship. Remember, injuries to your self-esteem (mental and emotional well-being) are longer lasting than bruises. Unfortunately, I speak from experience.

As “Your Personal Safety Trainer,” one of my best safety tips for dating women to avoid dating nightmares is trust your gut feelings!

By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

If you are anything like me, you have probably heard about and or had your share of dating nightmares! It is ironic that we justify, make excuses for and gloss over bad behavior from a date when we would not accept the same treatment from someone else, yet this is the person we hope to spend our lives with. I developed healthy self-esteem, learned to trust my gut feelings and establish and enforce personal boundaries only after I was raped on a date and years later, entered into a domestic violence relationship. Read on if you would like to be safer than I was and avoid dating nightmares! Here are my top three tips for women who are dating:

Healthy Self-Esteem Trust Your Gut Feelings Personal Boundaries
Part 3 – Personal Boundaries

Establishing and enforcing personal boundaries entails determining what is acceptable and unacceptable to you and standing your ground when your boundaries are threatened. When you hear someone say, “She got in my space,” or “He crossed the line,” the space is their personal space and the line is their boundary line.

Funny enough, if you ask the person who made the above statements, it is doubtful they would know anything about personal boundaries but rather spoke from a feeling they got.

Dating and Personal Boundaries

We would not ordinarily allow the things we do when we are dating. We seem so focused on making the pieces fit that we ignore the fact that they may be pieces to two different puzzles. Since we teach people how to treat us, if your date speaks to you disrespectfully or makes jokes at your expense and you don’t stop him, you just told him it’s okay. You have just welcomed verbal, mental, emotional abuse and a disrespectful relationship. If, however, you let him know the first time he does it that it is unacceptable to you, he will either leave or change his behavior and have more respect for you. Which would you prefer? If you prefer peace of mind, respect and better guys to date, read on.

Establishing Personal Boundaries

Picture yourself inside a giant bagel (or donut if you prefer). Visualize a line 18-24 inches from your body all the way around you. This is the outside of your bagel and the proverbial line in “He crossed the line.” See the space between you and the outside line of the bagel? This is your personal space or the proverbial space as in “She got in my space.”

Permission Granted

You get to protect and control your personal space. You decide what is acceptable to you (between you and the line) and what is unacceptable to you (outside the line). Examples of acceptable dating things might be respectful communication, men who have a lot of friends, non-smokers and healthy activity dates. Unacceptable things might be disrespectful communication, men who bad-mouth their exes, smokers and bar dates.

Congrats! Now you have begun to establish your personal boundaries. Continue and include people, places and situations. Do this with a clear, unemotional head. Use your gut feelings.

Enforcement of Personal Boundaries

Decide what you will do when an unacceptable person or situation nears your boundary line and personal space. Will you remove yourself from the situation, say something in a non-emotional way or respond physically either to protect or defend your space? Determine how you will handle the unacceptables before something happens. That way, if you are in an emotional moment, you can think back to what you decided (with a clear, unemotional head) to do and follow through.

Can you see the tremendous value in establishing and enforcing personal boundaries? Children, teens and adults need to begin immediately. Combining personal boundaries and trusting gut feelings can make you and your loved ones up to 95% safer from creeps and criminals.

As “Your Personal Safety Trainer,” one of my top three tips for women who are dating to avoid dating nightmares is to establish and enforce personal boundaries.

By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

Most women are less than eager to get trained in self-defense but we all need some tips on simple ways to avoid becoming a victim and repel instead of attract attackers. Fortunately, sometimes the simplest things work the best.

Attackers prefer victims go quietly so no one notices what is going on and gets a description of them resulting in their arrest. Now that we know what they are looking for, we can be the opposite. Here are a couple things to note:

Nine out of ten people gasp and hold their breath when startled or scared so attackers have the advantage already Making noise startles the attacker (turnabout is fair play) and calls attention to your situation

When you gasp and hold your breath, the adrenaline that is automatically produced to deal with stress freezes you quicker and longer, and that’s when the majority of people get hurt. Adrenaline is produced to give you the fight or flight option. It helps you think clearly, run faster and strike harder under stress. In order for it to circulate and help instead of hinder you, you must be breathing. This is where making noise comes in…



Yelling is a great way to make noise and get your adrenaline circulating at the same time because you expel all the air in your lungs and automatically take another breath. Viola! Circulation, adrenaline, strength, speed, clear thought, a startled attacker and everyone looking your direction! Notice I said, “yelling” and not “screaming?” That is because screaming is weak and defensive and yelling is strong and offensive. The three best things to yell: Stop, 911, Back Off!



Other great ways to make noise:

Honking your horn Sounding your vehicle alarm Throwing or knocking over something loud (like metal)


Honking your horn is probably not what comes to mind first when you are startled unless you are startled by another driver, right? But just think about how much attention a honked horn gets…and that is the idea after all; even if it is about your personal safety and not about your car.



We know that most people **** the sound of vehicle alarms and rarely even consider that something is being broken into or stolen but again, think how many people are alerted by the sound. You can be sleeping at night with your vehicle in the garage or driveway and sound your alarm if an intruder breaks in.

You know the movies where someone is running from a bad guy through the kitchen of a restaurant, knocking over metal tables and shelves behind them? Not only does this make an instant obstacle course but it makes a heck of a lot of noise in the process. Maybe you are in a store and rake your arm down a shelf pulling products onto the floor to make noise and draw attention.

There is nothing safe or heroic about going quietly with an attacker in the hopes he or she will not hurt you. In fact, it can easily cost you your life. If someone wants to take you against your will, their intention is to hurt you.

Teach your kids this safety tip too. I can’t tell you how difficult it is to get some children to practice yelling in my Safe Kids Class! They have been programmed that yelling gets them in trouble and they need to know it can get them out of trouble as well.

Remember attackers want quiet, uninterrupted time with their victim and the longer you are with them, the more power they have. Make a lot of noise and be more trouble than you’re worth.

And ALWAYS trust your gut feelings to know what to do because sometimes submission is the best option. A good question to ask yourself is, “How is the best way to handle this situation?” Your brain will answer whatever you ask it. Make sure and ask good, empowering questions to get the same kind of answers.

By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

Fellow women, listen up!

We know that everyone needs safety right? Women are often the ones who promote safety at work, at home and with friends. Teens and kids don’t always know they need safety measures and men feel safer than we usually do because of their gender. The truth is, attackers and victims are both male and female.

We can all be approximately 95% safer from creeps and criminals just by learning these Top 5 Women’s Personal Safety Secrets. How? Prevention is 90% awareness. So if you know the five secrets, you can’t help but be at least 5% safer!

The 3 main reasons you haven not heard “The Secrets” before:

The secrets are simple and we tend to make things much more complicated than they need to be – When everyone learns how simple personal safety is, there will be far fewer victims. Most people avoid the topic of personal safety due to fear of acknowledging their vulnerability to crime – Burying our heads in the sand and hoping the subject of crime disappears makes us more likely targets of attackers. The focus of most safety information is negative, random safety tips and ineffective self-defense techniques – Safety must be taught in the positive what to do manner!
Top 5 Women’s Personal Safety Secrets (to share with loved ones)

Understand the “attacker” mindset – The key to knowing where someone is going is to know where they are coming from. Confident body language – Speaking this language can save your life. Your voice is your #1 weapon – Knowing the power in your own voice and how to use it effectively is vital to preventing yourself from becoming a victim. Establish and enforce personal boundaries – Knowing what is acceptable and unacceptable to you before something happens allows you to protect your personal space. Trust your gut feelings above all else – The job of these survival instincts is to keep you alive.

As you can see, each of these five personal safety secrets is very important and may, individually, repel attackers. However, putting them all together and practicing them into habits can provide you with a tremendous amount of safety, peace of mind and empowerment in your daily life.

By: Kelly Rudolph

About the Author:

Parking garages are common hunting grounds for many lowlife criminals who just lay in wait for some unsuspecting woman to come along. They seem to like these types of structures due to the fact that there are many ways to exit the structure and usually not much in the way of surveillance cameras or security. Another benefit to criminals is that there are many places to hide and wait for a victim.

This is a problem people, especially women, need to keep in mind as they walk through the parking garage to their vehicle. There are a few simple tips you can follow that will help to lower your odds of falling victim to attack within a parking garage.

If the building you are coming from or the parking garage has security, ask to be walked out to your vehicle or walk with a friend and then drive them to their vehicle. As you walk look around and listen. Do not talk on the phone when you walk around because you will not paying be attention and it makes you too appealing a target. Be sure to carry at least one type of self defense weapon such as a pepper spray or a personal alarm. Not only do you want to have it but have it out and ready to be used. If you have a car alarm, which you should, be sure that if it has the feature that allows you to turn on your inside lights with your remote be sure it is enabled and that you use it. It will help to expose anyone that may be hidden inside of the car should they find a way past the alarm. Take a self defense class. Not only is it a great way to boost your self esteem it is a great way to get healthier while preparing yourself should you ever need to save your own life. One of the main ways to help lower your odds of attack whether it is in a parking garage or anywhere else is to make yourself look like a bad target.

Criminals do not want people who look like they are prepared to defend themselves, it is much easier to wait for a weak person to come by. Be sure that weak person is not you!

By: Charles Dougherty

About the Author: