# Don't leave your unlocked car running and then wonder why it gets stolen **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980 "2017-01-23T22:33:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/81 "2022-05-06T13:13:55Z")
Back to the OP … Every once in a while, you hear about a missing child or dog … that was **in** the car when the driver/parent/owner ran ‘briefly’ into the convenience store to buy a pack of smokes or something. If it should be obvious not to leave your car running when you step away, we need a better word (than ‘obvious’) to describe doing it with a child or a pet still inside. They’re heartbreaking stories, but … ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/82 "2022-05-06T13:14:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > BS you say. That means that Code Enforcement was lying in wait, waiting for her to F up. - “I never saw so many bleedin’ aerials. They said they could detect a running car at four hundred yards.” ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/83 "2022-05-06T13:50:58Z")
I see this as yet another form of special taxation: - Leave your car running in a dodgy neighborhood and be surprised when someone hops in and drives away? This is a tax on idiocy. - Lots of speeding or parking tickets? This is a tax on those who are in a hurry / impatient. - The lottery? A tax on those who don’t understand probabilities, often simplified to “a tax on those who can’t do math” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/84 "2022-05-06T15:54:57Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > In the 60s there was a public ad campaign centered around keys left in the ignition. Everybody did this, my dad never stopped and he would get pretty torqued if anybody took the keys out. The gist of the ad campaign was “Help keep a good kid from going bad.” I was listening to radio episodes of “Fibber McGee and Molly” from the 1940s and a few episodes had a similar PSA. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/85 "2022-05-06T23:56:08Z")
At my old employer, 6 parking tickets on hospital grounds was in itself grounds for dismissal. Some people did make jokes about getting fired for parking tickets, but think about it - parking in a restricted space for which one wasn’t authorized, and getting caught SIX TIMES, would be indicative of other issues. One of my college roommates sometimes drove to campus, and if she parked at a meter, would usually put 50 minutes’ worth of change in it, the exact length of her class, and then wondered why she would get a ticket. D’oh! Put a few extra minutes’ worth of time on it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2022, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/86 "2022-05-07T12:01:01Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > If you drive off without the fob, the car will keep running until you shut it off. Then you won’t be able to start it again until the fob is back in range. This happened to my dad, he dropped my mom off at work not realizing that she had the fob to the car he was driving and he had the other set of keys in his pocket. Stopping at a store on the way home was the wrong move that day. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/87 "2022-05-08T13:58:55Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > One of my college roommates sometimes drove to campus, and if she parked at a meter, would usually put 50 minutes’ worth of change in it, the exact length of her class, and then wondered why she would get a ticket. D’oh! Put a few extra minutes’ worth of time on it. I like it… parking ticket “tax” because of math issues, not necessarily impatience. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/88 "2022-05-09T12:39:46Z")
Ha! You obviously don’t live in Wisconsin. 🙂 ETA: that post was five years ago — never mind ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/89 "2022-05-09T12:59:28Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Ha! You obviously don’t live in Wisconsin. 🙂 > > ETA: that post was five years ago — never mind To be fair, I still don’t live in Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980/90 "2022-05-09T13:12:26Z")
Heh heh [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-leave-your-unlocked-car-running-and-then-wonder-why-it-gets-stolen/777980.md?page=4)