5 ms·

Leaving keys in expensive cars in areas where everyone drives the same 5 luxury models is oddly common in some areas like Nantucket. It’s really jarring seeing

Leaving keys in expensive cars in areas where everyone drives the same 5 luxury models is oddly common in some areas like Nantucket. It’s really jarring seeing the reminders from police there when you come from somewhere like NYC. Reminder that the US is a blend of high and low trust societies existing in geographical proximity. My parents still leave the door unlocked when they are home, especially if they are expecting anyone. Haven’t rung their doorbell in 25 years. Meanwhile my condo with lobby staff, self closing & locking doors, many security cameras, etc has had break-ins and robberies ..

woodruffw 1y ago
I’m not saying Nantucket isn’t high trust, but how much of this story is that versus it being futile to steal a car on a small island with a trivially searchable public car ferry?
- qingcharles 1y ago
  My family all grew up on a small island, and from what I can tell all the car thefts were very bored kids taking joyrides.
zdragnar 1y ago
> My parents still leave the door unlocked when they are home Growing up, we never locked our doors, ever. My parents only started after a serial burglar a few towns over (a half hour / 45 minute drive away) made the news. I've never locked the doors at my current house, but I always lock my car doors when I go somewhere... I guess there's only just so much I'm willing to tempt fate.
jameshart 1y ago
In the Boston suburbs, commuter belt communities just outside 128, it is common for police to send out reminders to people to lock their cars when they’re parked on their driveways whenever there’s a spate of thefts of valuables from parked cars. I assume it’s not restricted to this particular stretch of suburbia. Examples: https://patch.com/massachusetts/weston/weston-pd-remind-residents-lock-cars-after-ash-street-break https://patch.com/massachusetts/weston/weston-pd-remind-resi... https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/wellesley-police-urge-residents-lock-cars-porsche-stolen/ https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/wellesley-police-urge-re... This always surprises me because for one thing most modern cars auto-lock, and who even keeps valuables in their car? But apparently there are enough high trust people in the suburbs of a major metro area who leave their cars unlocked that it’s worthwhile for people to walk down leafy streets trying car doors. “Last week, 10 unlocked cars were hit by thieves along Bristol Road, Sagamore Road, and Tanglewood Road. Surveillance cameras captured a man stealing a 2020 Porsche Cayenne. The crook had his face and hands covered as he entered the SUV, only to find the key fob sitting in the unlocked vehicle.” And this is in Massachusetts where wealthy people definitely have garages (you are not wasting time clearing snow off your Porsche Cayenne before the school run in February - you keep that car in a garage and let a plow service handle the driveway) One theory: it’s a UX issue. People have cars with keyless entry and they do not actually know how to lock the car.
- jjtheblunt 1y ago
  > UX issue. sometimes it's also an entitled lazy humans issue, that no UX could compensate for. i see endless people driving current (post 2020 anyway) German cars and Cadillacs holding their iPhones with one hand talking into its low side while driving. It's illegal here in Scottsdale AZ, so I've decided those people are just too lazy to take the 1 minute or so to bluetooth pair their phones, or are the entitled sort who think they are more important than the law. many drive incompetently while on the phone, distracted.
- steveBK123 1y ago
  Not uncommon https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/rash-of-car-thefts-sunday-night-in-southampton-village-involve-key-fobs-left-in-unlocked-vehicles-2284536/ https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/rash-of-car-thefts-...
mhuffman 1y ago
>My parents still leave the door unlocked when they are home, I live in a small town, not rural but not a "city", and I haven't locked my doors in so long I don't even know where my house keys are.
- jamiek88 1y ago
  Yeah it is weird, we’ve never really locked our doors as a family either. Like the extended family I mean. And we are scattered all over the world in different economic situations and trust levels. I don’t lock now in a smallish coastal town in Oregon and I didn’t lock when I lived in Houston either. We often start locking after a reminder but it fades away. We do lock at night time though when we go to bed.
madaxe_again 1y ago
I think high trust/low trust looks at it the wrong way around - the reality is more like low mistrust/high mistrust. Where I live, people barricade their doors like there are barbarian hordes at the gate. Bars on the windows, clamps and immobilisers on the car. They’re terrified a gypsy/indian/african will fall out of the sky and rob them blind - and they’d have to fall out of the sky as literally everyone here is white and born within the surrounding ten km radius. They all trust their neighbours completely, however. I also trust my neighbours completely, so I leave my keys in the truck, and I haven’t locked the house in five years. The only time there’s been unauthorised entry is when people have left cherries for me on the driver’s seat.
matt-attack 1y ago
I live on a popular tourist island in puget sound and leave my Lexus SUV unlocked with the key in it wherever I go on the island. Groceries, downtown getting coffee, etc. I never lock my front door except when I go to bed, and often leave the garage door open when I’m gone. It’s quite a nice feeling.

woodruffw 1y ago

I’m not saying Nantucket isn’t high trust, but how much of this story is that versus it being futile to steal a car on a small island with a trivially searchable public car ferry?

qingcharles 1y ago
My family all grew up on a small island, and from what I can tell all the car thefts were very bored kids taking joyrides.

zdragnar 1y ago

> My parents still leave the door unlocked when they are home Growing up, we never locked our doors, ever. My parents only started after a serial burglar a few towns over (a half hour / 45 minute drive away) made the news. I've never locked the doors at my current house, but I always lock my car doors when I go somewhere... I guess there's only just so much I'm willing to tempt fate.

jameshart 1y ago

In the Boston suburbs, commuter belt communities just outside 128, it is common for police to send out reminders to people to lock their cars when they’re parked on their driveways whenever there’s a spate of thefts of valuables from parked cars. I assume it’s not restricted to this particular stretch of suburbia. Examples: https://patch.com/massachusetts/weston/weston-pd-remind-residents-lock-cars-after-ash-street-break https://patch.com/massachusetts/weston/weston-pd-remind-resi... https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/wellesley-police-urge-residents-lock-cars-porsche-stolen/ https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/wellesley-police-urge-re... This always surprises me because for one thing most modern cars auto-lock, and who even keeps valuables in their car? But apparently there are enough high trust people in the suburbs of a major metro area who leave their cars unlocked that it’s worthwhile for people to walk down leafy streets trying car doors. “Last week, 10 unlocked cars were hit by thieves along Bristol Road, Sagamore Road, and Tanglewood Road. Surveillance cameras captured a man stealing a 2020 Porsche Cayenne. The crook had his face and hands covered as he entered the SUV, only to find the key fob sitting in the unlocked vehicle.” And this is in Massachusetts where wealthy people definitely have garages (you are not wasting time clearing snow off your Porsche Cayenne before the school run in February - you keep that car in a garage and let a plow service handle the driveway) One theory: it’s a UX issue. People have cars with keyless entry and they do not actually know how to lock the car.

jjtheblunt 1y ago
> UX issue. sometimes it's also an entitled lazy humans issue, that no UX could compensate for. i see endless people driving current (post 2020 anyway) German cars and Cadillacs holding their iPhones with one hand talking into its low side while driving. It's illegal here in Scottsdale AZ, so I've decided those people are just too lazy to take the 1 minute or so to bluetooth pair their phones, or are the entitled sort who think they are more important than the law. many drive incompetently while on the phone, distracted.
steveBK123 1y ago
Not uncommon https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/rash-of-car-thefts-sunday-night-in-southampton-village-involve-key-fobs-left-in-unlocked-vehicles-2284536/ https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/rash-of-car-thefts-...

mhuffman 1y ago

>My parents still leave the door unlocked when they are home, I live in a small town, not rural but not a "city", and I haven't locked my doors in so long I don't even know where my house keys are.

jamiek88 1y ago
Yeah it is weird, we’ve never really locked our doors as a family either. Like the extended family I mean. And we are scattered all over the world in different economic situations and trust levels. I don’t lock now in a smallish coastal town in Oregon and I didn’t lock when I lived in Houston either. We often start locking after a reminder but it fades away. We do lock at night time though when we go to bed.

madaxe_again 1y ago

I think high trust/low trust looks at it the wrong way around - the reality is more like low mistrust/high mistrust. Where I live, people barricade their doors like there are barbarian hordes at the gate. Bars on the windows, clamps and immobilisers on the car. They’re terrified a gypsy/indian/african will fall out of the sky and rob them blind - and they’d have to fall out of the sky as literally everyone here is white and born within the surrounding ten km radius. They all trust their neighbours completely, however. I also trust my neighbours completely, so I leave my keys in the truck, and I haven’t locked the house in five years. The only time there’s been unauthorised entry is when people have left cherries for me on the driver’s seat.

matt-attack 1y ago

I live on a popular tourist island in puget sound and leave my Lexus SUV unlocked with the key in it wherever I go on the island. Groceries, downtown getting coffee, etc. I never lock my front door except when I go to bed, and often leave the garage door open when I’m gone. It’s quite a nice feeling.