25 Times People Made A Quick Decision That Was Smart Enough To Save Lives

When confronted with danger, events often transpire at a rapid pace. For some people, however, it can feel as though time itself has slowed down. This phenomenon is typically a result of our instincts kicking in, allowing us to respond effectively to avoid imminent disaster.  Recently, individuals who have found themselves in perilous situations—and managed to prevail through quick thinking—took to Reddit to share their experiences. In response to the question, “When was a time when your quick thinking likely saved you or a friend from a dangerous situation?” participants revealed the astute decisions they made on the spot, which helped themselves or others escape potentially tragic outcomes.

#1

Image source: ThedaBarasB**bs, Amit Ovadia / unsplash (not the actual photo) I don’t know if it was the right thing to do, but one time a friend and I (both female and in our early 20’s) were s****d and walking down the streets of the red light district in Amsterdam. A very creepy guy started following us and muttering obscene things under his breath. There was nobody around so we both just started walking faster and faster and suddenly he was too close for comfort, like maybe 3 ft behind us, and I turned around with a balled up fist and shouted “DON’T YOU DARE COME ANY CLOSER YOU PIECE OF S**T”. He was definitely caught off guard, I think he didn’t expect us to talk back to him or put up any kind of fight. And fortunately right then a bar keeper opened his door and saw the whole thing. He was big and muscle-y and he said “I’m watching everything man, leave them alone” and the guy slinked away.

#2

Image source: Agreeable_Hippo_7971, Kai Wenzel / unsplash (not the actual photo) One time in the public pool I pushed a friend into the water because some (I don't think I should be using that word here) teenager decided it would be cool to poke at a bee hive that was near the swimming area. My friend was highly allergic to bees and those little stingers were pissed. I didn't do anything and was still stung a bunch of times before using my head and get in the water too. MilkNegative1391: Thankfully they weren’t wasps. Apparently they’ll wait for you above the water’s surface.

#3

Image source: TheKr1tster, Jonnica Hill / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was getting ready for school whilst mum was vomitting in the bathroom. She said it was just a stomach bug and to just go to school but mentioned her arm hurt. Something didn’t sit right so i called the ambulance from downstairs. They arrived and took her into the ambulance - she then proceeded to have 3 cardiac arrests and needed defibrillated each time. A double bypass later and she was up and about within a month. Paramedics told me she would have died 5 mins after i left, if i hadn’t called.

#4

Image source: SparkysJewelry65, Callum Hill / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was in the kitchen one evening and my kids (3&5) were playing in their bedroom. All of a sudden my oldest came tearing in saying his brother was turning blue. I ran to him and tried doing the heimlich but he was so little it wasn’t working. To this day I have no idea where the idea came from but I picked him up by his feet and swung him, like when do the airplane thing, and a steel ball came flying out. It had come out of some toy and he put it in his mouth. After we got back from the er I went back to fixing dinner and somehow that little s**t got ahold of another one and choked on it again. I had to do the same thing to get it out. I swear I searched all the toys in their toy box and removed everything single thing that could conceivably be choked on, but he still found another one. I have both of those steel balls in my jewelry box to this day and he is almost 40.

#5

Image source: Blondeshvmorfun, JESUS ECA / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was a freshman in high school at a HUGE party of mostly juniors and seniors. By 11pm, the house and grounds were littered with several hundred drunk and/or high kids enjoying the free beer keg and several huge trashcans full of fruit punch and everclear soaked melon balls!! I saw a girlfriend of mine, so totally smashed that she could barely stand being "escorted" away from the party and towards a dark, secluded corner of the back yard by two very large seniors!! I knew whatever their plan, it wasn't good for her! There wasn't time to summon anyone so, in a panic, I pretended to be just as drunk! Grasping her hand, I was loud and persistent that she needed to accompany me back towards the party! She was oblivious to what was going on as they began to be physically and forcefully separate us!! I doubled down and eventually, they stopped and walked away into the night!! I KNOW I saved her from a sexual a*****t and to this day!! It is chilling to think about how, had I not been there, how quickly and easily she would have been out of range for anyone to have heard or seen her in distress!!

#6

I posted this a couple of years back: I was at a wedding being held at a hotel. I wanted to go back to my room, so I got on the elevator. A man jumped in with me at the last moment and got my attention. I pretended not to notice. When I got to my floor, I got off, and he got off with me and walked behind me in the same direction. I thought "Oh, don't be silly, he is just a guest like you are". When I got to my room, he paused, walked past me and stopped at the door next to mine, watching me. I finally realized he probably was planning to push me into my room when I opened the door. Instead of fishing out my key, I knocked on the door and waited. He also waited, pretending to fumble for a key. I knocked again, said "GEORGE? Are you still in there?". I sighed and went back toward the elevator, and the man followed me back. The doors opened, he got in, and I quickly backed out before the doors closed on him. I reported him to the front desk. I think my quick thinking saved my life or at least saved me from being assaulted. Trust your instincts. Always, always trust them. Image source: SueBeee

#7

Image source: WrackspurtsNargles, Zyanya Citlalli / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was on the tube (underground/metro) late at night on my way to the airport. Train carriage was pretty deserted. It stopped to let people on and a man got on. He looked pretty 'normal' but there was something about him that set me on edge, I could feel my heart rate going up. He spotted me, and came to sit directly beside me despite there only being a couple of occupied seats. He never said anything, but he was watching me through my reflection in the window. At the next stop I got off (made sure I didn't look like I was going to get off until I got up) because he was making me uncomfortable, and immediately got on again in the next carriage. To my complete horror when I sat down I realised he had followed me, he'd only just made it onto the carriage behind me before the doors closed. Again, he sat down directly beside me. I pretended not to have noticed him. At the next stop, I let the doors open, waited, and just as they started to close I quickly jumped up and ran off just in time for the doors to close behind me. I turned round and he was standing behind the doors with a face like thunder - he was so angry that I had outsmarted him. I got out the station and took a taxi the rest of the way because I was so scared that he would get off at the next stop and wait for me. I think that's the closest I've knowingly been to someone who meant me harm.

#8

Image source: sunnynightmares, Artur Rekstad / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was 15 at the time, and on my way home from a friend's house. It was around 6 pm already. While I was walking a guy greeted me hello, thinking he was someone I know or someone my mom knows (it was a very small town where everyone knows everyone) I politely smiled and went on my way. He started following me, asking for my name and if I was single and if I need someone to talk to. I kept on shaking my head and trying to get rid of him. When he suddenly grabbed my arm. without thinking, I pulled away and pushed him hard before running. At the exact moment, I saw a familiar face at the end of a street. it was my uncle's friend. We weren't close, but he was a 6 ft tall man with tattoos all over and was smoking a cigarette. With tears in my eyes I immediately ran towards him and called his name. He was startled of course, and it took a while for him to recognize me. I told him what happened and when I turned around, the guy was staring and he had a very scary look in his face. My uncle's friend raised his voice at him and said "Oi! You're harrassing my niece right here? You want me to beat the s**t out of you?" The guy raised his hands and immediately backed away. Uncle's friend took me to the nearby Mcdonald's and called my uncle who picked me up since he didn't have a car and didn't want me to commute on my own. I'm still thankful for you, Uncle Rod. Thank you for saving my life that night.

#9

Image source: lxzxh, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) When i was about 9 my little brother and sister thought it would be a good idea to tie a jump rope to a slide to swing and then go down. my sister (7) went down but the rope ended up around her neck so she was dangling there. i quickly looked at my grandma expecting her (as the adult) to run over there and take her down but the poor lady was in shock she just stood there watching ? so i ran over to my sister and pushed her back up the slide which was not easy at all, especially with her body flailing everywhere. my sister ended up with deep cuts around her throat that she had to go to the hospital for and still has the scars from it 12 years later. we’ve all moved on from it and my sister even jokes “remember that time i accidentally hung myself” ???.

#10

Image source: riskykitten1207, Ryan De Hamer / unsplash (not the actual photo) When I was in high school my best friend had her own car so I would ride with her to school and back everyday. One day on the way home from school some guy was following us. She wanted to just drop me off at my house and go straight home. I didn’t want the guy knowing where I live so I directed her to drive to the police department. We ended up at the sheriffs office. He pulled up right next to us in the parking lot on the passenger side of the car. I was scared as s**t to even get out. I was afraid he would grab me. We both got out of the car and went running as fast as we could towards the doors. He got out of his car and started coming after us. Once the officers were alerted he turned around and got back in his car then sped off. He was caught a few blocks up the road. He was high af when they pulled him out of the car. He had d***s on him and some stolen property. His excuse to the cops for following us is that he said my friends car was stolen and he was trying to get it back. He was arrested and taken to jail. They filled out a police report and that was the end of it. To this day I am still glad that I didn’t let her drop me off and go back to her house alone. He would’ve followed her home and done God knows what to her.

#11

Image source: anon, petr sidorov / unsplash (not the actual photo) We arrived at a party with a friend's brother. He got pretty drunk during the evening and then he tried to make us go outside to wait for him to pick us up when we were going to leave. He got really angry when I said he's drunk and started screaming at us to go outside, like he looked like he was gonna hit us if we didn't do as he said. When we were getting dressed I took the car keys without him noticing. He got really pissed when he was going to unlock the car only to find that he didn't have the keys. He thought he had dropped them somewhere inside and went looking and after like 20 minutes or so of looking he just wasn't able to stay awake any longer due to the alcohol. Had we gotten into the car he probably would have crashed it.

#12

Image source: tanamongeau_, Natalia Blauth / unsplash (not the actual photo) When i was like 7 i was in my backyard with my brother and there was a s**t ton of banana trees growing there at the time so he was cutting them down with a machete.(he was an adult at the time) i was standing by him half paying attention when i noticed he was swinging the machete around in the air because there was a wasp. he then dropped it on his foot which immediately started bleeding, i was young so my general idea of how fatal different injuries wasn’t great so i just assumed he was gonna bleed out and die. so i ran into the house screaming “he’s gonna die he’s gonna die” crying and all while his foots gushing blood in the backyard and my mom was like what the hell? so i told her to go out back to see. our dad took him to the hospital and he got stitches and was completely fine. as i got older i’d tell the story and laugh about how dramatic i was but it wasn’t until recently that i found out the doctors had told him he was lucky and if he’d gotten there just a couple minutes later he could have bled out. so it turns out me unknowingly screaming that he was gonna die wasn’t so far off. i’m just glad he’s alive.

#13

Image source: TwinklyLite, Giulia Squillace / unsplash (not the actual photo) My BF at the time and I were walking to our car in the middle of nowhere at 3am. Forest on both sides of the street and not another person in sight. A car with 4 sketch looking dudes slowed down to where we were walking I told him to bolt. He didn’t want to so I bolted and he felt pressured to follow me and ran after me. The car stopped and guys came out of the car to yell after us telling us to come back. We did not and didn’t stop til we got to the car and drove back. The men were gone and nothing was there. He asked me why I ran away because they could shoot us if they had guns. I told him no thug will go after difficult prey. Prison penalties are much longer for m**der and theft rather than just theft and mugging. If we run away if they come near us, they will find someone easier to steal from.

#14

Image source: not-so-desperate, Alim / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was on the high way driving with my learners permit when a semi came into my lane and hit the drivers side rear end of my car, swinging my car sideways in front of his truck l. I slammed my foot on the brake and held the steering wheel straight while he then pushed me down the highway at 60mph for atleast a minute. Mind you this is a 4 lane highway. Next thing I know my car detached from his truck as he pulls off to stop, and I’m left sideways at 5pm in the middle of the busy highway. I see cars coming, I hit the gas and get to the side of the highway my car is facing before the cars get to me. My mom and little sister were in the car with me, and we were all fine. Not a scratch, not a bumped head. Just a totaled car. Had I not been so clear headed and floored it to get the car off the highway, we would have been hit as the other cars did not see my car on the front of the truck. And wouldn’t have had time to stop.

#15

Image source: thiefcandy, Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo) I insisted on getting my dad to the hospital when I saw how violent his shakes were from his “cold”. It ended up being a liver infection that if left untreated would have likely evolved into sepsis and probably k**led him. AlfredoQueen88: I had a similar experience with my dad, except his was pneumonia. He had an actual cavity eaten through one of his lung lobes. He’s recovered well but he had to see a specialist and was considered for surgery. Thankfully the cavity healed but the scar is nuts on his chest xray.

#16

Was watching my toddler nephew and he’d found a metal straw somewhere in the house and started playing with it. He was just tapping stuff and waving it around, but I’d *just* read a story on Reddit about a woman who got completely f****d up by a metal straw when she fell and it impaled her face, so I took the metal one from nephew and gave him a soft, squishy silicone one to play with instead. I’m not exaggerating when I say less than five minutes later, he fell like toddlers do and I saw the silicone straw all smushed into his cheek. I had to just sit for a while after that, lol. Image source: windexfresh

#17

Image source: fatgoose52, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) When I was 12 my friend and I rode the same school bus home. She always got off a few stops after me. We decided to sit toward the back of the bus near the 8th graders (thinking we were bada*s) and this guy from the neighborhood (who was a year older) started chatting to us. At first I assumed he was being friendly but then he started to get more aggressive and make flirty comments. I was feeling more uncomfortable and I could tell my friend was scared too. My mom always told me to ask before having friends over but we both got off early at my stop and went to my house. I thought “I’d rather be in trouble with my mom than leave my friend alone with that creep”. My mom was fine with it of course and was really angry after hearing about it.

#18

Image source: Blackandorangecats, Kovina Đurić / unsplash (not the actual photo) I was out with a friend who had 3 drinks max, I had none. She was acting off so I insisted on bringing her home. I rang the next day and she had no memory of leaving the first bar (1 drink) going in my car to another bar (2 drinks), being taken home or calling her boyfriend. A 14 hour gap in memory. So grateful I don't drink sometimes.

#19

Image source: Embarrassed_Rise_423, INFOE Studio / unsplash (not the actual photo) I studied abroad in Prague, which is an amazing and beautiful city, but on one of our first days there a friend and I got lost looking for the college bookstore. As we wandered the streets we got further and further from the touristy/populated places. I noticed two men following us, so I made an odd turn to see if they would too. They did and I thought I need to get away from them. I didn’t know where I was going, but I began following the signs to the castle. I knew it would be populated and touristy. As we got closer, then men disappeared and I knew we were safe.

#20

Image source: anon, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) This happened last week . . . our family dog (technically she is my Mom’s dog I’m dog sitting) was attacked by two pit bulls at a dog park, completely unprovoked. The pit bulls knocked her down and immediately began EATING HER!!! I lunged into their fancy feast and grabbed our 12-year old, sweet lab mix that weighs 50lbs, despite me having a lifelong fear of pit bulls. I could have lost a hand, arm, etc. by doing pulling her out of that attack, but that was the last thought in my mind in that moment. She required surgery, stitches, staples, and 24-hour constant care for the past week.

#21

Image source: Jay_Boogie96, Nagesh Badu / unsplash (not the actual photo) Not me, but this happened to my grandma when she was a child. She was born in 1942 and she was in elementary when this happened so late 40s-early 50s. She and her best friend were walking home from school and some man pulled up next to them asking if they wanted candy. My grandma didn’t have a sweet tooth but her friend was trying to go to the van to get some candy. My grandma pulled her away and they ran home. She still tells this story and knows they would’ve been kidnapped had she not convinced her friend to run home.

#22

Image source: den-of-corruption, Daniel Silva / unsplash (not the actual photo) A female cop went after one of my friends, saying he was being 'aggressive'. I already had my phone in my hand but I hadn't started filming yet. I yelled 'I've been filming for the last minute, it's obvious he didn't do anything!' and suddenly the cop was professional again. ACAB, baby.

#23

Image source: musicmaj, Natalia Blauth / unsplash (not the actual photo) Man started following me in the park, kept trying to talk to me, wouldn't leave me alone. Even though I was a grown a*s woman of about 26, I saw a group of about five 16-18 year old girls in the park and beelined for them, pretending to know them. They immediately played along. Later they said they had been watching me and were keeping an eye out because they sensed something was wrong. The man still hung around from a further distance, so the group asked me to accompany them to the shops a 10 minute walk away. We hung out and finally the man gave up. We hugged and went on our merry way.

#24

Image source: Unexpected_Genius, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) In Mumbai I went to the elevator at the same time as a man with a huge laundry bag. He was going up and I was going down to the pool. He got in the elevator and when it came back he was still on it. I step on. I select my floor. We go down a floor. an employee who has had a cart going to all the rooms stocking supplies steps on at the next floor and turns to us and asks if we're getting off at the same floor. I said I'm going to 3. Employee asked stranger if he was going there too. Stranger ignored him. Employee asked him in another language. They exhausted words. I realized the man whose ridden up and down never pushed a floor. He was going wherever I went. When the employee stepped off I immediately asked him where the stairs were. It went like this: Me: where are the stairs? Employee: ma'am, we're (insert high number) of floors up? Me; I know but I want the stairs. Employee: they're this way. Elevator shuts and man with huge laundry bag disappeared. I started to shake and almost cry. I told the Employee I wasn't with that man and we weren't going to the same place and I didn't feel safe. I asked if he would walk me to the pool to meet my friends. He couldn't leave his cart so he got another Employee to escort me.

#25

In 2020/2021, my ex and I were walking back his car after a date night. It was a great evening, but something was off. I turned around a couple of times and noticed that the same man had been walking behind us for a while. I told my ex about it, but he didn't take it seriously. He did martial arts growing up, and we were in his home city (having met and studied abroad), so he wasn't worried at all. I insisted that the man was following us and pressured my ex into approaching a couple of guys who were hanging out outside their bar to explain the situation. They confirmed that it did look like the man was tailing us. So we asked them to accompany us to our car, which they were kind enough to do. The man immediately stopped walking behind us and started dawdling in the street. One of the bar guys accompanying us took a dig at my ex, saying that he should've "been a man" and protected me. I told my ex that what he said was beyond bulls**t because a single person simply doesn't follow two people unless he's certain he can keep both of them under control, especially if one of the two is a man. I was convinced the man following us had a weapon of some kind on him and I wasn't about to take a chance on our lives. Toxic masculinity will have men shaming each other for not risking getting stabbed to death. Image source: IllustriousAd3002