Byrna's Drill of the Day: Defensive Driving

On today’s “Prepare to Defend” Drill of the Day, we’re going back to defensive driving. From road rage gone bad to carjackings, sitting in your vehicle can be one of the most vulnerable places to be during the course of your day. If you’re out there driving every day, spending hours in your car, there’s a decent chance that a threat may present itself during your commute.

In a previous drill, we talked about shooting from a seated position. Now, we’re just going to build on those skills by moving into a vehicle and adding a few complexities to the mix. To shoot this drill, you’re going to, of course, need a car and one target placed anywhere from 3 to 7 yards from the driver’s side window. While you can use any of Byrna’s launchers to shoot this drill, today we’re going to be using the Byrna SD.

Okay, now here’s the important part: we want this drill to be as realistic as possible. So, you’re going to start with your Byrna stored where you would normally keep it, be that in the center console, in a glove box, or maybe a bag. Personally, in this truck, I like to keep mine here in the center console. You’re also going to have your seat belt on—I mean, because you always wear your seat belt, right?

To begin this drill, you first need to retrieve your Byrna from its stored position, present, and fire three rounds at the target as efficiently as you can. Here are a few pro tips for this drill: think about where you’re keeping your Byrna and if it’s in an easily retrievable place. Ideally, we want to get rounds off in about 3 seconds from the time we notice the threat. When you turn to present, turn your whole upper body toward the target to give yourself a stable shooting platform. Finally, push the launcher as far outside the window as possible and past any obstacles like the side view mirror to lessen the chance of hitting your car.

This drill is also very repeatable by moving the target to different sides of the vehicle or different positions on the same side. All right, now get out there and train early and train often so that if the time comes, you are prepared to defend.

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