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Lessons Learned From Having My Bike Stolen
domo:
I tried to post this in the comments, but the php gods frowned upon me.
I live in New Orleans. According to http://www.thetrace.org/2015/12/gun-deaths-interactive-map-2015/, there have been 9 shootings within a 1-mile radius of my house in the past year. There have been 32 shootings in the past year within a 1-mile radius of my workplace. My old apartment was broken into while I was asleep. They took everything, including my boyfriend's gun and my cellphone, which was literally inches away from my sleeping face.
I have insomnia now. Since then, we've moved into a house with bars on the windows. Oddly enough, the prevailing emotion I have is gratefulness that they didn't shoot me with the loaded gun they took. I do worry that that gun has been used to kill someone else. Robert is now my fiance and he still has a gun. It is locked away, but I still feel uneasy about it.
I actually sold my car to pay off student loans before I found out about MMM. I bicycle everywhere, but I always lock my bike with both a cable lock and a U lock. If my bike was stolen while I was out, I'd have to walk through some pretty bad neighborhoods to get back home. Even though my bike is relatively cheap, I can't afford to have it stolen.
Using MMM's criteria, the risk I would take by not locking up is way too high.
MonkeyJenga:
Are you able to move to a different neighborhood where you might feel safer?
Also, have you spoken to your fiance about your feelings regarding his gun? I'm surprised he kept a loaded gun not locked in a safe. My understanding of gun safety is that guns should be stored in a safe unloaded, with ammo locked somewhere else.
TrMama:
I also thought that post was idiotic. We live in a nice neighbourhood in an area that gets some property crime, but almost no violent crime. Three days after moving into the house the garage door responded to the neighbour's remote and opened, without our knowledge, while we were sleeping. The thieves cleaned out the garage and then came into the house and stole some things from the entryway. We (DH, I and 2 small kids) were sleeping upstairs.
You better believe we keep our doors locked. I also didn't sleep for days after the robbery. I don't give a crap about our stuff. However, I care very much about my family and will never risk my kids coming face to face with some creep in the middle of the night.
Since MMM has been pretty open about where he lives and has now posted that he doesn't lock his door, I predict he'll soon get the same life experience.
Sailor Sam:
Just finished reading the post. Hadn't realized there was a new one up.
I appreciate the larger point that risk is a thing that need to be managed, instead of simply reacting to mere fact risk exists. Obviously MMM has thought about the effect, and decided that the thrill of leaving his bike unlocked is worth the hassle and expense if the bike is stolen.
I've done the same assessment, and found that locking my bike, and therefore reducing the risk of having it stole, is worth the effort of locking it up. I've had an unlocked bike stolen. Paying for a new one was really painful. Same logic with the car.
I live in a fairly low crime area. Empty home burglary is rare, and home invasion while the owner is present is even rarer. Despite the low probability of danger, I've decided lock my installed deadbolt when I'm home. Because I believe breaking the lock/door would make enough noise to wake me up. If someone does come into my house, I'd rather be awake.
Summary: I support logically thinking through risk instead of knee-jerk reacting. But I lock my bike.
arebelspy:
Nitpicking the details for specific scenarios is missing the point.
Pete would agree with you that there are places where you'd need to lock up.
Your posts are 100% correct in that.
But, in general, we're overly paranoid about security, many (most?) of the places the MMM readers are from are perfectly safe, and worrying about stuff like that only reduces your happiness.
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