road rage...pepper spray

[Lee M. Levitt]

Patrick Austin <paanta at yahoo.com> writes:

> FWIW, they make this stuff called "Counter Assault" which is a
> pepper spray in a 7 oz container designed to fend off agressive grizzly
bears.  Zoo
> keepers use it against lions, tigers and elephants.  It's great because it
> puts out a fog of spray rather than a stream, and has a 30 foot range, and
> is potent enough to make grizzly bears think twice about mauling you.  I
> keep a container between the seats.  Cheap insurance.
>

I'm not sure I'd want a fog of this stuff around. I carry a can of the
pepper spray when I bike, and I once had the *severe* misfortune to squirt
myself with it. A *large* dog jumped out at me from between two cars, and in
my haste I didn't check to see which way the damn spray was pointing.

It wasn't the pain of the spray in my eyes.
It wasn't even the fact that I was still riding down the middle of the
street at 20 mph with zero vision.

It was the thought of the damn dog howling with laughter at me.

...or worse. I certainly hadn't slowed *him* down.

I was fortunate to have been wearing sunglasses which mitigated the spray,
to have enough water left in my water bottle to rinse my eyes, and not to
have hit an oncoming car (or a tree...).

Anyway, I'd prefer a concentrated stream to aim at an attacker rather than a
fog.

Lee