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There's an effect, I forget what it's called, where a deterrent is effective enough that the only time you see it activate is accidentally. I believe this may b
by betwixthewires 6y ago
There's an effect, I forget what it's called, where a deterrent is effective enough that the only time you see it activate is accidentally. I believe this may be the case for car alarms. It has a side effect of desensitization, but it is still effective. I doubt most thieves smash and grab without consideration of alarms on the grounds that probably nobody will care about the alarm.
Thieves want to steal without being noticed. The real threat of a giant siren bringing attention to them with a towel wrapped around their hand standing next to a shattered window deters a lot of opportunistic theft. It isn't quantifiable, but it is no doubt there.
Determined thieves of course will find a way, or find less secure targets. But most theft is opportunistic.
- BurningFrog 6y ago> There's an effect, I forget what it's called Reminds me of the "why are you dieting/exercising, you're not fat?" fallacy. Don't know the name of that either.
- paulgb 6y agoIt's not the effect you're talking about, but it reminded me of a study that found that the value of Lojack (an early GPS-enabled car theft tracker) decreased car theft for everyone in cities where it became prevalent, since would-be car thieves were reluctant to steal any car knowing that it might have a tracker. [1] https://www.nber.org/digest/jul97/lojack-benefits-all-car-owners-its-area https://www.nber.org/digest/jul97/lojack-benefits-all-car-ow...
- meekrohprocess 6y agoMaybe you could take advantage of that by putting a blue LED on your dashboard or rear-view mirror that blinks every few seconds when the car is off. Speaking of, I'm surprised that there aren't more prank automotive devices. What if your car's horn went off semi-randomly twice a month, with a different horn sound each time? Or your turn signals made loud clicking noises that everyone could hear? Or your Bluetooth calls also broadcasted through the car alarm speaker on Wednesdays? There's plenty of room for innovation in the car alarm space.
- w0mbat 6y agoI read an article describing how some thieves will deliberately set off the alarm and then break the window. The theory is that everybody ignores car alarms and the alarm covers up the sound of breaking glass, a sound that people do not ignore.