Suburban
Jeremiah Mudonha
A friend of mine had his vehicle stolen after 10 minutes of getting into a pharmacy to buy medicine for his mother.
He narrates his ordeal; “I carefully left my Honda Fit parked at a local shopping centre when I was looking for a pharmacy to buy some medicine for my mom. Upon my return in less than 10 minutes, I found my car missing from its parking bay. There was no trace, nothing. To make matters worse, there was no one in sight to at least tell me what had happened to my car.”
I could not believe my ears when I heard this a fortnight ago. Three months had hardly passed after the stolen, yet to be registered, blue ex-Japanese car had landed from Tanzania.
Can you imagine the pain one goes through upon losing such a highly-priced possession just as simple as that?
Surely damned be the proceeds from heartbreaking crimes like these and may we please decidedly amplify our calls for stiffer penalties on the convicted culprits.
Vehicle theft cases are however not peculiar to our local societies and the world at large.
It is how these crimes happen which bewilder us and which should arouse our vigilance and resolve to act.
Day by day criminals are seemingly coming up with novel and somewhat sophisticated ways of stealing cars.
Of late there has been a notable spate of car thefts involving thieves manipulating door locking remote systems.
While this trend is still there and motorists still being advised, as it were, to lock doors manually or lock doors with remote then check manually, there still seems to be more happening in this arena than can be easily explained.
My friend who had his car stolen said; “I vividly remember locking the car before going out and I did that manually.”
This was after I had put it to him that perhaps he had left the car unlocked or used only the remote to lock it without adding the manual input.
I want to share with you some advice on how you can secure your car. It is said and he who takes advice is certainly wiser than he who doesn’t.
Need I mention, first and foremost that there are preventable and non-preventable crime situations.
It all hinges on the probability and or possibility, if any, of us successfully averting the occurrence of crime.
I want to point you to some common questions and possible solutions with regards to your vehicle security against thefts.
Below are some tips on securing your vehicles:
How is your vehicle secured against thefts?
Invest in the security of your car through installing functional car alarm systems and all possible electronic and physical anti-car hijack systems. Believe me, the cost is little compared to how much you would lose when that car is stolen.
Where do you park your car?
Most vehicle thefts are attributed to our own negligence over where we park our vehicles. We ought to be adequately convinced that we are parking at safe and secure places. Gone are the days when we would leave our cars anywhere and expect to find them there after a day or two.
It is also now a common cause that most of our shopping centres are black spots for vehicle thefts so it is dangerous to assume that all is well when parking there. Take every possible step to ensure that your car is left safe before going on to do your shopping. Preferably, have someone responsible and trustworthy to watch over it in your absence. Before parking at home, ask yourself how secure your place is. There should be sound and adequate measures in place to guarantee the security of your vehicle such as guard dogs, lockable gates and security alarms, to name a few. Then, if your home is not safe, find night guarded car parks. Do not resort to parking in streets. At public gatherings like funerals and weddings, make sure that you either park at guarded spaces or where you can see your vehicle or if the worst comes to the worst, have someone to watch over it.
How about car keys?
Some cars might be stolen because the would-be thieves would have had prior access to the car keys. So care about where and how you secure your car keys. Firstly, never ever leave the keys on ignition when going out of your car, even for a short while. Secondly, keys have to be kept in very safe places at home away from sight by unauthorised people. Lastly, never let your car keys and or the vehicle to go into many hands. Trust but not too much.
How do you use your car?
If you use your car for pirate business on full time or temporary basis, know that you are but exposing that car to thefts. Whatever the case may be, avoid picking passengers along your way home or to work. Mind you, some of the people who pretend to be genuine commuters might be car hijackers. Next time, please resist, not only for the safety of your car but yours too.
How alert are you when driving?
Remain alert when driving keeping cognisant of the fact that highway robbers are always on the prowl. Try to travel during the day because night driving has the greatest share of the mentioned risks. Avoid stopping unnecessarily on highways. Have a well-serviced vehicle. Be careful on help-seekers albeit pedestrians, motorists or any other strange people waving at you to stop.
Remember robbers are cunning. They may set up dummy scenes of this nature including real or fictitious accidents and breakdown to waylay you. Again, whenever you feel that you are being followed by suspicious vehicle(s), quickly drive to safe places. Be cautious about other motorists along the way flashing you or trying to get your attention using whatever means.
There is a lot more to discuss in this regard. However, I condense all the above and the remaining unmentioned points in the following two words- be alert!
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Twitter @JeremiahMudonha.
