I never lock my doors when I’m driving. For some reason I feel safer/better that way. Maybe a mild form of claustrophobia?
I figure I’m not likely to fly out in an accident if I have my seatbelt on, and it’s easy access if I need help.
I’ve never even considered someone jumping in! I’ve also never heard of it happening here…
What’s the downside to locking the doors? That you may be trapped? How likely is that? Besides, they sell tools made for just that purpose, though I’ve never seen a testimonial from anyone who’s actually had to use one. On the other hand, it’s becoming more and more likely that some whacko will try to haul you out of your car.
My car locks the doors when the engine is started. If it didn’t, I probably wouldn’t bother, but then, I don’t wear seatbelts, either. I look at it this way; if you don’t feel safe leaving the doors to your house unlocked when you go to work, you’re probably in an area where there’s some risk of being carjacked.
I have known several people who have had stangers/robbers/assaulters open their car doors while stopped at a light and wuickly enter the car before the driver knew what was happening. In two cases, the strangers did no harm, just wanted a ride. In other cases, there was injury to the driver. I had one experience where someone tried to get into my car, it was locked, and since it was summer, he then tried to put his hand in my car to open the door from the inside( lets just say he was not successful).
I not only always keep my doors locked, with gun close by, but I always leave plenty of room between my car and the car in front of me, and I try to stay in a lane on the edge. Therefore, if someone tried to enter my car, I will take off, jumping the curb if necessary, going on the sidewalk, or going thru a red light. I never stop directly behind the car in front of me without leaving lots of manuvering room to get around. Standard defensive procedure that is so ingrained, I dont even think about it.
I recommend that you “floor it!!!” and that you take off as fast as you can. Most of the time, the criminal wont shoot, if he shoots most of the time he will miss, esp at a moving target, if he hits you most of the time he will only wound you. FYI, criminals are notoriously bad shots(even worse than the police).
The alternative to taking off extremely fast, is to be at the mercy of someone certainly holding a gun to your head and kidnapping you in a Peterson/Levy/etc style.
However, here is a story of how 2 women recently handled this same situation, in 2 different ways:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7526209&BRD=988&PAG=461&dept_id=141265&rfi=6
Woman pulls gun against would-be bandit
By Norb Franz, Macomb Daily Staff Writer March 28, 2003
[Deleted whole article that was mistakenly posted instead of just a small clip from the article-Czarcasm]
I always worry about that. Wouldn’t a locked door piss the carjaker off? I really don’t want to piss off a guy with a loaded weapon. Still, from what everyone else is posting (the uninivited guests popping in) I might just take that risk…if I ever get another car.
About half the time, I drive with my door locked, but when I had a car with power locks, I NEVER locked them unless I absolutely had to.
A friend of mine had a car fire, and he couldn’t get his door open because the door was locked. He couldn’t unlock it manually that easy because of how the lock was positioned, and the power had been cut to the car. He finally made it out, and after hearing that, I think it scared me into thinking I was safer with the door unlocked. Who’s to say I would be, but it made me feel better, and even now with my manually locking car, I still think, what if?
We always carry fire extinguishers in all of our cars(standard equipment), in the passenger compartment(it must be very handy), and in a pinch, you can always bust open a car window with the extinguisher if the doors dont open, and get out thru a window.
I think a greater danger would be if your car went into the water, then the power might short out if the battery is completely submerged(is this true?). You can always take the precaution of opening the windows when traveling over bridges or near deep water, and unlocking the doors. If the car is overturned though, or lands on its top or side, the side doors might jam shut anyways, even if they are unlocked.
I was always told to bust open the rear window to get out of a car whose doors do not open, esp if the car is in the water.
The extingusiher is good for putting out fires too.
my van door locks when we reach a certain speed. I think its safer for the mentioned reasons as well…
A locked door is less likely to come open in a crash. I’ve been around the towing business all my life(also car repair shops) so I’ve seen my fair share of wrecks. Sometimes we have to pry open doors and one that is locked and smashed is very hard to open. That mechanism, once locked and unable to function as designed, creates quite a hassle. Which is not to say the door will not fly open in event of a crash, it’s juts a bit safer, believe it or not.
I would have to say that locked is the best bet, but that is because I am in the habit of doing so. I do not think it is completely nessisary to lock them, but it can’t hurt!
I lock 'em so the Boogyman can’t jump in while I’m at a stoplight.
I lock them because I am paranoid and have obsessive compulsive disorder.
I usually do lock the doors. I don’t know why, I just do.
If I don’t like the area I’m driving through (past Holy Cross Primary or The Limestone Road in North Belfast, say) I’ll lock them. Otherwise, no.
Here’s what I learned at a demonstration of the jaws of life a few years ago: The firemen told us that **when driving on the highway we should NOT lock our doors. ** He said that all modern cars have the latches built in such a way that a properly closed, unlocked door will not pop open in an accident. A locked door on the other hand, is not only harder to open by hand, it is also harder for the rescuers to cut open with the jaws of life. The locking mechanism is hardened steel, which takes precious extra time to cut through in an emergency.
As has been mentioned in this thread, many cars have doors that lock automatically. What is not commonly known about these cars is that those locks are programmed to unlock if the airbag(s) are deployed. So if you have a car whose locks are not controlled by the car’s computer (i.e. they cannot be made to auto lock and unlock) then it’s OK to lock them when driving in an area where the primary concern is an unwanted person opening your door, but on the interstate, where the primary danger is collision, I would vote for unlocked, and I personally leave my doors unlocked in that situtation.
A: Jaws are crummy cutting tools. There are hydaulic cutting tools better suited. Jaws are mainly a push/pull tool.
B: If they are using jaws to open your door it wont matter if they are spot welded shut it will bend the F*$K out of the door and door frame until it pops open.
If the FD has to cut through the door hinges on a 68 buick esquire station wagon to get you out, call the priest.