My wife walks and jogs on the road we live on. It's a tar and chip road in the woods with a couple mile long stretches where there is nobody to observe anything that goes on. No houses, no nothing. There are few cars on the road, especially in the early morning darkness when she's usually out on the road. She wears flashing lights to be seen and carries a Ruger LCP II in a belly band holster. In thinking about how a criminal might try to abduct her or approach her with bad intentions, I came up with two scenarios. First is to stop and ask for directions and one person gets out at close quarters and grabs her. Second is they could drive close enough to her to open a door and knock her down, than grab her. I have some ideas about how to handle an encounter but I'm no expert. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

As a runner myself, I'm generally more concerned with being run over on roads like that, especially in the dark.

As for the scenarios you've laid out, the two choices I see are to get further off the road when a car is coming to give yourself distance to react to either the direction asking or the door bonking; or run elsewhere.

I assume she's running on the left, so she's less likely to be approached from behind.

Good luck.

OP,

Hopefully your wife does not wear headphones or earbuds while running - that will make her much more susceptible to being snuck up on.

Have her carry a reload, too. and a little AAA light like the Streamlight Microstream, its 45 lumens, but seems brighter

Are you able to go with her?

You can protect her, enjoy her company, and get in a workout.

Thanks for the replies. She wears flashing lights all over the place so she'll be seen. I think she does wear ear buds, I'm going to check on that and have a discussion about them if that's the case. Since she runs in the dark I'm not sure anyone could sneak up on her on the road unless they're driving in the dark, which I guess is possible, especially with a full moon. Strangely enough, I just ordered her a small Streamlight flashlight for Christmas. I'd go with her but I don't like running in the morning and she's too slow anyway.

Buy her a treadmill or gym membership for Christmas

Situational awareness is very important. She could take an affordable seminar taught by a cop or martial artist and ask questions there. Those are fun and you could go too! You can know what to look out for, like a guy trying to sneak up and grab from behind.

Dont forget dogs are probably the biggest threat to a woman jogging, as well as being careful to not be hit by a car, etc.

Make sure she has thought through scenarios, maybe role play with her using a fake gun, and make sure she has practiced drawing in her running outfit so it is second nature.

If is also very important to be mentally prepared to kill when the time comes, especially for nice women who are not predisposed to violence. Alone in the woods her justification to shoot is going to come quickly, and giving aj attacker the benefit of a doubt could mean she will nit come home to you.

If she wouldnt mind I would look into carrying these, but if it makes her not want to run, then leave them out:

1. Extra mag for the little pistol (if something happens she may have unloaded all 6 rounds, so nice to reload as she waits for help or what not).
2. An extremely sharp fixed blade 'anti-rape' knife like the small TDI Law Enforcement knife.

.380 is a small niche caliber so id carry bullets that penetrate well like fmj, Underwood XTreme Penetrator or XTP

If she is squeamish about shooting or knifing people maybe show her a coroner textbook where you can see examples of oeople who didnt kill the murderer. I know it helped me personally to do that.

Don't approach a strangers vehicle, keep a safe distance.

If anyone gets out, back up and hold out one hand saying " stay back", or "keep your distance" while putting other hand on weapon.

If the above happens then an additional person gets out and tries to circle around you'll know they ain't your fuckin friends, you can turn around to see what the person circling around you is doing if you don't mind the one you were facing grabbing you.

Try to continue to back up and away from the confrontation until/unless no longer possible, then survive by any means even if any means means your side of the story is the only side of the story.

Her best defense is situational awareness.  I saw this great YouTube video once that taught a woman how to defend herself.  It took like 10 times for the girl to figure out how to fight back.  I searched for it but this is at least helpful:  https://youtu.be/5Kqo4I0rzLc  One thing I've learned from experience is practice is important.  I carried a pistol in the special compartment of my purse for years before I learned if needed to shoot through the purse.  I don't think I would have in an emergency been able to do much more with it then use it as a heavy object.

There's a good website for women: CorneredCat.com.

'Cause nothing fights like a cornered cat.

Yeah if they stop and get out thats a concern. Normally a man would be considerate of a woman, that she would be concerned for her safety. I would never closely approach a woman at night for any reason

If they are trying to flank a woman in the middle of nowhere I think she would be justified drawing. There is a difference between drawing and shooting. And I believe under most circumstances evej if they were just walking toward her and not stopping I believe shooting would be an option, generally.

I wish my mother would carry, had a close call with a ferocious dog and the cops wouldnt come.

Well OP have fun and I will subscribe in case you want to update us on the silution that worked for you guys!

I'm gonna jump on the situational awareness bandwagon, as well as the knife.

I would stay away from pepper spray. If she's not used to it, there's a good chance it will disable her just as much or more than her attacker(s). Same thing with a stun gun. You don't want to use one on someone who's holding on to you.

Would she get into Jiu Jitsu? Unless they offer continual training, I'd steer clear of "women's self-defense" classes. The ones that only last for a few weeks at a couple sessions per week (in my experience) only offer a false self-confidence. I saw the same thing with the Marine Corps. Recruits would get MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) training for a couple days a week for a couple months, then think that they were the next UFC <insert weight class here> champion. If she's willing, get her into a good place with a reputable instructor.

Another thing, if she takes her phone (presumable since she listens to music), get a GPS tracking app. Some carriers also offer a "SOS" feature. You can program those to either call you immediately or call the police. It will automatically record a couple short videos which can be texted straight to you, as well.

Have her watch this video with you.  It might open her mind in ways that you can't explain it to her yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot5NQc6H_IM