It bugs me how some people i know seem to go out of their way NOT to lock their doors. Is it really that hard to close the door behind you and turn a little knob an inch to the right?
IF someone tells me that they refuse to succumb to the fear that has stricken thier neighbours… what are you trying to prove? and who are you trying to prove it to?
Remember the Canadians in Bowling for Columbine? . They didn’t lock their doors and they were robbed. sure they werent hurt–no gun was pulled, but none the less, their house was ransacked, valuable items stolen, and had an intruder on private property.
I parallel this to people and seatbelts. They are uncomfortable and a hassle to buck in, sure, but why not take that miniscule precaution as a safety measure that could save your life or the life a family member in a worst-case scenario.
if i get one reply others than those who patronize this thread, i’ll be happy.
I’m here to make you happy. I entirely agree with your comment about seatbelts. Locking houses is a bit more controversial, not that I don’t always lock mine. 1) If someone wants to break into your house, they can easily find a way to do, and 2) house insurance lets you buy all brand new stuff if that happened. On a side note, I never lock my vehicle when I’m at home. It’s pretty regular that somebody’s going to want to rifle through my glove compartment every six months or so. There’s nothing of interest there, so I’d just as soon they did it without smashing a window or taking a crowbar to the glove compartment. Strange, but you can learn to live with petty criminals, just like you can learn to live with unpleasant insects.
I dont recall that the folks in Bowling for Columbine got robbed or burglarized. I lock my doors when I’m not home, but it is normally open when I’m around. Is that unnusual?
Mike
I’m a Canadian who always locks the doors. I don’t know anyone who leaves their door unlocked, actually. No, that’s not true, I know one woman who leaves her door unlocked and partially open, even, but she lives in a secure building and I guess she feels safe enough like that. (Nothing’s happened to her yet, anyway.)
We all wear our seatbelts too. (My friends and family, I mean.)
I’m not sure I fully understand what you’re saying, but do you mean there’s no point in locking your house, because eventually the burglar will find a way in anyway - and whether or not you locked the house is irrelevant, because you’ll collect your insurance anyway?
If so… WHAT? What insurance company would pay out the insurance if the house was unlocked ?? Surely they have a clause that makes your claim invalid if that would occur.
In my province, seatbelts are THE LAW. I often wonder about whether this or that law (if not logically related to the Ten Commandments as basic good behaviour for society at large) was passed to satisfy an obscure special-interest group, but I like the seatbelt laws. To me, it’s like saying “Don’t be dumb. It’s the law.”
As for locking the doors, I do. But then I trust my new neighbours not at all, and I have an ex who for the first several months after the split, felt entitled to try the door every so often. I have friends who live only 40 minutes away who mean to lock their doors every night, but I have observed them discovered the door hadn’t been locked on occasion, and just shrugging. In metropolitan anywhere, it strikes me as just good sense to lock your door when you are not available. There is no law requiring it, and those who feel comfortable not being locked in when they are awake, or even asleep or away, the more power to them.
One observation I will make though, about the whole door-locking thing: I seriously doubt any woman who lives alone doesn’t throw the bolt out of habit. You tend to feel a lot more secure when you share your home with other people, especially male types. Double standard? maybe. But it’s been true for me.
Well, let me be the first non-Canadian to join the thread. But I’m a Montanan, so I feel like a third cousin to a Canadian thread.
Not wearing seatbelts is stupid. I’ve taught this to my nephew by saying, “Read the fatal accident stories in the newspaper. 70% weren’t wearing seatbelts, 20% were excessive speed, the rest are chance. Wear a seatbelt and drive in the speed limit and you reduce your risk.”
As far as not locking doors, where do you live and who lives around you? I haven’t locked my doors for years, unless I leave town. But I’ve always lived in neighborhoods where we watch out for each other. If I see an unknown vehicle in front of my neighbors house, I note it. And if they are carrying stuff out, I would talk to them.
Plus, I’ve always owned big dogs. Open my front door and you’ve got 60 pounds of husky going, “I don’t think you !@#$&* belong here.”
Edmonton here. Doors are always locked when we’re not home. They’re only unlocked when we’re home if we’re going through them a lot, such as the back door in the evening. It’s just habit.
And yes, Michael Moore did try to imply that Canadians don’t lock their doors. He had a scene where he just picked a house ‘at random’ and walked up, opened the door, and walked in to prove his point.
I wonder how many takes it took before he found that unlocked door?
Growing up we never locked the door. Ever. Well, except to lock siblings out, but that doesn’t really count. Mom and Dad still don’t lock their door. What, exactly, would be the point? The nearest neighbour is a quarter mile away, and line of sight onto the yard is blocked from nearly all directions. Anyone with malicious intent who wants to get in would have to be pretty inept to be stymied by the lock on the door. May as well avoid having the door bashed in or a window broken. Not, I might add, that it’s ever happened. Nor have any vehicles ever driven off, for all that they’re left with keys in the ignition.
Course, the farm is a tad off the beaten path, too. I do lock my apartment, and nobody I know living in “the city” (Saskatoon) or even “town” (Aberdeen, population 500) leaves their door unlocked.
I don’t recall the Canadians being robbed either. I don’t lock my doors except at night when we all go sleep. I don’t see a need.
As for safety belts, ever since I was a young’un I’ve been wearing mine. My girlfriend was driving with her sister just 3 days ago and her safetybelt saved her life.
I have many friends who live in rural VT. Not only don’t people lock their house doors, many don’t have locks on the doors at all. And almost everyone leaves the keys in the ignition.
This OP seems a bit silly. It’s like complaining that people in Scotland don’t lock their doors: it depends on where you are. When I’m at home in the Islands, I don’t bother locking the door to the house because no-one’s going to rob me. If I’m in Glasgow or Edinburgh, then of course I’m going to lock the door; I’m not stupid!
I’d imagine it’s pretty much the same no matter which country you live in.
Excuse me, but what kind of outer doors do you have, then ? Because the ones we have here don’t have a handle on the outside, only a kind of knob so that you can pull them or push them. In this case, locking the door doesn’t make any difference, since the door needs to be forced open anyway. Locking it makes it harder to be forced open, yes, but leaving it unlocked doesn’t provide access to petty thieves anyway.
Why do they have to have handles ? I mean, you just insert the key, turn it, push the door, and lo, it’s open. No handle needed. If you don’t have the right key, no amount of pushing can open it (mind you, a run-and-hit-with-shoulder might, but that’s also athletic and noisy).
