The letter, ‘Pick-up zones are not car parks’, which appeared in the Opinion page of the Bulletin on October 11 reminded me of a recent case involving a man stealing idling cars. He was jailed for his series of thefts, and I applaud the authority for it. However, I can’t help but wonder if it was partly the fault of the owners for leaving their cars unattended, with engines running and doors unlocked.
Frustrated Parent had every right to voice their annoyance over parents leaving their cars idle at the school pick-up zone just so they could fetch their children straight from the classroom.
And lucky for these parents that they are doing it on school grounds where the chances of an idle car thief lurking around are a tad lower.
But it goes to show how prevalent such a practice is. It makes sense to do so in a smaller, tighter-knit rural community, where everybody knows everybody else, but it’s rather careless to apply that level of trust in a more densely-populated area.
While the recently-convicted man seemed more interested in taking idling cars for a joy ride before abandoning them by the roadside, there may be others with intent to make a quick buck out of the negligence.
Law ought to be enforced to dissuade drivers from leaving their running cars idling before car thieves start to turn their attention on these individuals in droves.
Hypervigilant
