April 2006 - HOW many of you reading this have, at some time, been a victim of vehicle-related crime?

As there are 33.8 million licence-holders in the United Kingdom, a decent percentage in the North West, it is reasonable to assume that a serious number have.

I'm not just talking about random vandal attacks, the action of morons with a grudge against everyone and everything, who derive a savage pleasure from damaging vehicle paintwork for the hell of it.

Annoying, and costly though that is, it is a minor problem when viewed against the rapidly escalating toll of carjackings and road-rage attacks.

Here are some quotes from Simon Johnston, the director of AcciDont, a leading driver-training school which has launched the UK's first practical self-defence course for drivers.

"Almost every day there are stories about people being attacked, robbed, even killed, in carjacking or road rage incidents.

"The trouble is car security is so good these days and the only way a thief can steal a car, or something from it, is to have the keys.

"The easiest way to get them is from the owner, with violence.

"People are increasingly aware, and worried, about how aggressive the roads are, and we have been getting more and more requests for advice on how to avert any possible confrontations," Johnston said.

With this in mind, AcciDont has joined with self-defence experts Krav Maga Scotland to teach techniques to motorists worried about personal safety.

With 11,500 carjackings recorded in Britain last year, I would imagine that Mr Johnston and his company are on to a winner.

Car thieves usually target their victims first, following him/her in another vehicle and stopping them on a quiet stretch of road and demanding the keys, backed by the threat of violence.

There have also been examples of owners of expensive vehicles being attacked in their homes by yobs intent on stealing the car.

A large, ferocious dog might persuade the thieves to go elsewhere, but not every owner of a posh car has a Doberman or Rottweiler on tap, and, if they had, would be prepared to let it ride shotgun every trip.

AcciDont also gives lessons in how to avoid road rage confrontations.

Just the other day I remonstrated with a driver who pulled alongside at traffic lights with a mobile phone glued to his ear.

He gave me "the finger" in return. How I wished I had passed the "Don't mess with me" course with AcciDont.

I would have stuck the mobile phone out of harm's way. In his posterior!

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