People really need to learn some form of self-defense. Anything.
That is totally useless against a mob consisting of two-legged animals.
Situational awareness and planning ahead is infinitely more useful.
Traveling from New York City to Washington DC the first and only time in 1993, I had planned to get off the main highway and visit Philadelphia's historical places. After taking a random exit and traveling less than half a mile I realized that I had not planned ahead. I had failed to identify the known deadly parts of the city. Not the sort of useful information the Visitors Bureau freely divulges.
An illegal U-turn on a major street resolved the consequences of my inattention to detail, but a valuable lesson learned. Philadelphia, for me, will remain permanently unexplored territory.