You are safer without a knife

[Adrian II]

There are only two possible reasons not to run:

1) You are absolutely certain the other person can outrun you, so you are better off not turning your back on him and you might as well try your luck fighting

2) You are with somebody else who won't be able to get away, so by running you would be abandoning them to certain death

Those two things are uncertain in most situations. So that's no guideline.

Me and a friend were waiting for a night bus around 1.00 am once, many moons ago, on a deserted road outside a village. It was the last bus, and I had to be home that night. We were 17 years old. Two guys about the same age and build as us came walking down the road and one of them started waving a knife at us, demanding money for their bus fare. We retreated, talked, 'negotiated', feigned to shrug the whole thing off - until the arrival of the bus saved us. Then the other guys ran, fearing that we or the bus driver would alert the police.

Of course we could have run. Or we could have been dead. Or we could have wrung the knife from the guy´s hand. Whatever.

I'm just telling you that in such situations nothing is clear-cut except for this: most senseis talk bollox (with compliments to Tribesman).

[HoreTore]

Those two things are uncertain in most situations. So that's no guideline.

Me and a friend were waiting for a night bus around 1.00 am once, many moons ago, on a deserted road outside a village. It was the last bus, and I had to be home that night. We were 17 years old. Two guys about the same age and build as us came walking down the road and one of them started waving a knife at us, demanding money for their bus fare. We retreated, talked, 'negotiated', feigned to shrug the whole thing off - until the arrival of the bus saved us. Then the other guys ran, fearing that we or the bus driver would alert the police.

Of course we could have run. Or we could have been dead. Or we could have wrung the knife from the guy´s hand. Whatever.

I'm just telling you that in such situations nothing is clear-cut except for this: most senseis talk bollox (with compliments to Tribesman).

Yes. Waiting for that bus was your way out of it

What you did was negotiate and stall the situation until a way out of it appeared. You did not escalate it by flashing a knife or whatever(ie. being aggressive), like the OP thinks you should.

[Tribesman]

OK, I'll take the bait. What point are you driving at here Tribes?

The point was how many knife incidents has Caledonian been in and how does he get his views on the best thing to do in those situations .
My point being that carrying a knife for self defense is an extremely stupid thing to do .