First-Person: How to Prevent a Carjacking from Happening to You

It was a cold winter day in Rockford, Illinois. There was a lot of snow on the ground and my dad went outside to warm the car up in our driveway. The car was covered with snow. Rather than clean the snow off of the car, my dad decided to warm the car up first. He turned the car on, (left it unlocked) and went inside to wait for the car to warm up (it was an extremely frigid winter day). He watched the car from the window.

When my dad went outside to check on the car, he found two men attempting to pull the car out of the driveway. They were in a hurry and hadn't attempted to wipe the snow off the back window. They could not see as they were attempting to back out and consequently scratched the car up and dislodged a side mirror. Not willing to waste any time, my dad yanked open the front door, pulled one man out and the other man took the initiative and decided to get out of the car himself. It was obvious my dad was mad! The two men ran down the street with my dad running after them. One of the men said to the other, "Get out your gun! Get out your gun!" It was at that point that my dad decided that it was better not call their bluff in case he was wrong. If they really did have a gun, he would be risking his life.

We lived in a safe, rural neighborhood in Rockford, Illinois. At the time of the carjacking, the area we lived in was not considered a bad side of town.

The easiest and best way to prevent an attempted carjacking is simply not to leave the keys in the car while the vehicle is running. I have actually seen police officers leave their vehicles unlocked and running in some small towns. Although I am always surprised, it would be a rare person who would want to attempt a carjacking on a police vehicle. Since most of us don't sport a badge, I would highly advise not leaving your car running and unlocked. During the dead of winter, I have been known to warm up my car and leave it running outside. However, I ALWAYS lock the doors and use a spare set of keys to unlock the car when I am ready to go. At the very least, this would postpone a would-be high-jacker and perhaps dissuade someone altogether.

It is a good idea to take steps to avoid an attempted carjacking. After our families experience, we realized that leaving a car running and unlocked can be a temptation to some passing onlookers. In our case, the risk of leaving the car unlocked and running not only put our vehicle at risk of being stolen, it put our dad's life at risk as well. Avoiding a bad situation may be as easy as keeping your car locked!