There are literally millions of techniques out there in the world that can be applied in situations requiring the use of force.
Shaolin code states that force should only be applied when there is no other option and the police code requires that the minimum amount of force should be used in self-defence situations. However, the world is not a nice place and there are many people who have never heard of Shaolin, many more who do not respect the police or any other authority. These people pose a great threat to society and should be avoided altogether, but when this is not possible...
The main reason I myself started learning Kung Fu was because I wanted to defend myself and I would say that this is about the same with 90% of the Martial Arts world. The Martial Arts themselves were created to provide a form of self-defence against rivals who used brute force to overpower their smaller rivals. The Shaolin muscle-change classics taught by Bodhidharma (Dat Mo) would not have become Shaolin Boxing or Kung Fu if it hadn't been for the constant threat of the Mongolians, who were huge barbarians trained in wrestling. This is not to say that wrestling is not a Martial Art or that it is impractical, it simply relies more on physical size and a good use of gravity than other, more 'orthodox' Martial Arts, such as Aikido, Kung Fu and Savate etc.
The way the 'ortodox' Martial Arts work around these brute strength styles is by using technique, mental training and, most importantly, physics.

"In the world there are many men strong enough to overpower you, but not all of them together can overpower physics."

~ James Roach (Seel St.)

Mental training provides a Martial Artist with many skills that normal people do not have. The most common and, arguably, the most useful being that of pain management. The ability to smack wrists against your classmates during 'Sam Sing,' for instance, may seem stupid, painful and useless to beginners, but anyone who has been grabbed by the jacket and dragged into a punch only to find that they can automatically swing their arm up and sprain their attacker's wrist knows full-well the benefits.
It's no lie that the main focus of Hung Gar and all of the sub-Shaolin arts is that you are stronger than your opponent on the street. This is why we do press-ups and sit-ups and iron-arm and 'sam sing.' Our technical abilities cannot start to develop until we are strong enough to be able to apply them.

Shaolin Code

1. Evade
2. Block
3. Strike
4. Beat
5. Maim
6. Kill

It is important to remember that to the Shaolin monks, being buddhists, there is no greater distress than taking another's life. There are only extremely rare and dangerous moments when a monk, and hopefully, you yourselves, would resort to No. 5, but it is important to remember that there are times when it is necessary to resort to it.
It is also important to remember that No. 1 has many meanings. It can mean to dodge an attack rather than blocking it proving your speed to an attacker and perhaps making them think twice, or it can - and should - mean to avoid any confrontation in which you will need to use what you have learned. There are times when it will be impossible to do this, but no pride should be taken when you do have to resort to any form of violence, and remember, there are always people out there who are stronger than you, faster than you, more skilled than you and simply more willing to hurt people than you. I hope you never have to meet these people, but, just in case you do, this page - phew, finally... - is dedicated to applications of techniques that will work on the street. Remember that it is your duty to find the ones that work for you and to practice them until they become a natural rhythm to you, instinctual and possible to execute without prior fore-thought. No-one else can do this for you except you, or, as my old Master used to say:

"The difference between understanding and ability is practice."

~ Sebumnin Headen-James