There are a handful of things that really put me on edge, and occupy my fleeting attention long enough to cause me to worry. Many of those relate to anything that may, in any way, imperil my car. It may not be that big, fast or expensive, but dang it, it's my set of wheels, and it gets me everywhere I need to go.
If I hear a funny noise from the parking lot in the middle of the night, I bolt down to the door of the building I live in, to make sure nobody's trying to break into my car. I hear a strange noise or feel the steering start listing off to the side while on the highway, I get the problem fixed. I shoulder check when merging or crossing at intersections. Despite what I’m like in person, I tend to a a pretty cautious person behind the wheel.
I like to take care of my car. That's why this whole matter of auto thefts being on the rise has me feeling a little uncomfortable. Up in Regina —somewhere a little too close for comfort —auto thefts have jumped up 91 per cent, according to the Regina Board of Police. In January 2016 alone, there were 80 thefts. There were 42 in January, 2015. I'm sure there are a number of factors at play, many of them having to do with the economy, but anything beyond "the economy is in a slump" is beyond my purview and area of expertise, so I won't even attempt to delve into that any further.
It's a grievous crime and an all-around crappy thing to do to someone, to steal their vehicle. In terms of hefty investitures of one's own (or borrowed) money, a reliable vehicle comes in just under a mortgaged home or a loan-laden education. People sink a lot of money into getting a set of wheels on the road to call their own.
The only thing more troubling than the crime itself is why it's happening so much. According to the Saskatchewan Association of Police Chiefs (SACP), the most effective deterrent to preventing getting your car stolen isn't an alarm system; it's not a well-lit parking spot, it’s not any sort of strategy to keep your vehicle within or close to your line of sight, wherever it's parked (although those are all good strategies). The best strategy, the SACP insists, from looking at how the surfeit of thefts that have played out over the course of the year, so far , is to just lock your doors.
The two most common factors leading to vehicle theft include stolen vehicles being left unlocked by their owners, and the keys those vehicles being left inside them.
I’m not usually one to sing my own praises (OK, I usually am), but those two problems have never plagued me more than once. Call me a stickler, but the moment I set out to work in the Prairies, putting myself into a considerable amount of debt to put a vehicle on the road, I've jealously guarded my ride. I've carried my keys wherever I've gone, and often double, sometimes triple-lock my car remotely, often to the chagrin of many around me who don't like the sound of the horn beeping around them.
I'm still cautious, and that may have to do with another formative experience I had coming out west.
About three years ago, I drove to work for some work-related reason. Assuming the building's parking lot, in broad daylight, no less, was safe enough to leave my car unlocked and unattended, I parked about 20 feet from the back door of the building and went on my merry way.
Side note: there were a few fellas skulking around on the back road, drinking and carrying on among themselves, but I thought little of it.
As I reached the door, I had second thoughts, glancing back at the road for a moment. I went in, pretending to return to my office, but ever-so-stealthily cracked the door open to see what would transpire in my supposed absence.
What do you know, one of the skulkers took it upon himself to pull open the passenger-side door of my car and start rooting through it. I hit the panic button on my keys and that sent him running. But I learned my lesson: always lock your doors.
