Are you not worried about having your car stolen or windows smashed? I live in South Africa in one of the safest cities in the country and could never do that. And property boundary walls? Burglar bars on the windows? I can count in one hand the number of houses I’ve ever seen in SA that don’t have a wall or fence around them. Jehovah’s witnesses must be a bit if a problem for you guys.
Anyway, is what I’m asking just what you see in movies or is America really like that?
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Where else am I going to park it?
Yes, I do. No, I’m generally not worried about it being stolen or having my windows smashed.
If you have visible items in your car it’s going to get broken into but if you follow the very simple security precaution of not leaving stuff in your car then it’s fine. I leave my car in my driveway because my half of the garage has gym equipment in it, which to me is far more useful than indoor vehicle storage.
Most Americans don’t have anywhere to park but those options. Maybe 30% or so (just my random guess) have a garage to park in, but i’d say the majority don’t have anything like that, and have to park out on the street or in their driveway out in the open
I’ve never heard of anyone outside of the ultra wealthy having property boundary walls other than a small 3-4 foot fence maybe. Small fences are common, but they aren’t keeping anyone out
I’ve never seen a house with burglar bars on them either
We really are like that in most areas. Obviously, we do sometimes encounter break-ins, but they’re not very common (unless you leave something obvious in the car) no boundary walls, and you know you’re in a ROUGH area here if you see barred windows, though usually those are buisnesses not residential.
South Africans can often get confused by some of this stuff. The thing is, you might live in one of the safest cities in SA… but it’s still SA. My friend’s parents are always kinda shocked when they get here and I think it’s because the experience sorta forces you to confront that your idea of “safest” is still really fucking unsafe.
My neighbor’s car was broken into and his catalytic converter was stolen on a separate occasion. So, things do happen occasionally in my area. We still park on the street we just don’t leave anything of value in the car and make sure anything that’s in there (empty grocery bags, etc.) is situated out of view. My neighbor also installed a motion-activated floodlight and there is a streetlight on our side so that is a deterrent.
There are other communities near here where car break-ins are much more common, most notably San Francisco. I’ve heard of some people leaving their cars unlocked or even the windows down so they don’t have to fix a broken window if someone breaks in.
Before I had access to a garage, I did it for around 7 or 8 years. It was damagaged by hail more than the zero time’s it was broken into.
Just lock the doors and don’t leave anything valuable visible from the exterior.
Nearly every report of a smashed window here is associated with other belongings removed from the vehicle.
You sitting down? There’s a bunch of people who leave their houses unlocked always. Not in cities but in the suburbs and rural areas, people don’t lock their houses when they go out or when they’re sleeping.
>Jehovah’s witnesses must be a bit if a problem for you guys
They can get a bit annoying but they usually target one neighborhood at a time and won’t be back for a few years
I’m not sure what they’re like in your neck of the woods, but Jehovah’s Witnesses around here usually just knock. I’ve never particularly felt the need for a wall or barred windows to keep them out.
I live in a city, sometimes you’ll have problems. It’s still rare enough that it isn’t a major concern. The safest city in your country is very unsafe by our standards.
I leave my car in the driveway because the garage is full of gym equipment and a couple of freezers. I’m not worried that my car will be stolen to broken into.
I’m not concerned about a home invasion. I only have a fence in my backyard and it’s mostly to keep bunnies and dogs out of my garden. You could easily climb over it (it’s like 6ft or 1.8m tall). Front yard is completely open. I’ve only seen burglar bars in third world countries and always thought it was a fire hazard. I’ve never seen a Jehovah’s Witness.
I park my car in the driveway. I don’t have a wall or fence around my house. I don’t have burglar bars. I sleep with my windows open when the weather is nice. Sometimes I don’t lock my doors when I leave my house.
Yeah, property crime is pretty rare in my neck of the woods. People breaking into cars is mostly a thing that only happens in bad neighborhoods, barring freak one-off incidents.
A lot of people use their garage for storage or for other things, it’s not unusual to park a car in them, but it’s far from universal. Mine’s got a small work area but it’s mostly a home gym, my parents use theirs for storage, and one of my neighbors turned his into a man cave/in home bar.
Bars on windows are the kind of thing you only see in the ghetto, and not even the super wealthy typically have literal walls surrounding their property unless it’s for aesthetics.
Front yard fences, if they exist in a neighborhood at all, are usually waist high and are either for aesthetics or for marking the property lines in more rural areas. We mostly just fence in our backyards, and that’s for privacy or pets, not security.
I’ve been parking a car in the driveway or on the street for over 40 years and never been broken into or had one stolen. A drunk took out my driver’s side mirror a couple of years ago when it was on the street. Other than a 5 gallon can of gas stolen from my open garage about 10 years ago I’ve never had anything stolen
Lots of places don’t have off-street parking. Smash-and-grabs happen sometimes and you just deal with it, but it’s not incredibly common in most areas.
Robberies just aren’t as common here as in SA. The USA is generally very safe. Much safer than SA.
It depends on where you are. Even within an individual city you can have much nicer areas and much worse areas. For example, my previous home had burglar bars (and probably didn’t need them) on it but my current one, a mile away, doesn’t (and definitely doesn’t need them).
I feel perfectly comfortable parking my car in front of my house, and it’s a relatively nice car. I don’t leave anything visible inside of it, of course, but I don’t worry its windows will be smashed or that someone will try to steal it.
Generally speaking though, property crime in most places in the United States is significantly lower than in most South African cities.
You’re safest area and ours are probably vastly different. Just an example, I can shake my bank tellers hand because they aren’t behind any thick glass. First time I noticed that I was a little bit shocked. I actually said something out loud, and the bank manager laughed and said “this isn’t Orlando”. I will say that it seems to be only branches near me. Other banks not that far away do have that glass. But it’s also busier.
Yes it’s very safe where I live.
The fact that you live in one of the safest cities in a country yet most houses have burglar bars and walls should tell you that that’s not the benchmark for other places. Neighborhoods are usually very safe unless it’s in a low-income area.
On the farm we leave cars unlocked with the keys in them.
I think it would blow your mind how little people in the US worry about petty theft and vandalism. It happens, but is so rare on the whole that most people hardly think about it.
Lots of people leave their home doors unlocked. Locking a car is hit or miss.
Heck, I’ve owned multiple Jeeps. I never had a top or doors on them. Nobody ever messed with them. Even in ‘dangerous’ cities.
Catalytic converter theft is an increasing problem, but yeah. Lots of people park on the street or in their driveway without issue. I’ve only had my windows smashed in once in like 20 years of driving.
Yeah we’re actually pretty civilized here. The normalized insanity y’all live with is something else.
Safest city in South Africa = South Chicago
Hahaha you think you can trick us into thinking anywhere in South Africa is safe?
Many years ago, we parked our car in downtown Raleigh to catch a train to New York. That did get broken into, as did every other car on that street. Prescription sunglasses were stolen, but our GPS (aka satnav) unit was left in the car. Go figure.
But yeah. Many Americans leave their cars out. Most Americans do not have bars on their windows. I lock our doors, but occasionally one gets left unlocked overnight.
Edit: We do park our cars in our garage.
I park my car on the street infront of my house. Have not had an issue. Do worry about a bad driver hitting it (my house is next to an intersection) but it hasn’t happened. Yet. We have a wooden fence around our back yard, but the gate is unlocked, so it really isn’t a defense.
Some places in urban areas (or in some really rough parts of semi rural Appalachia where drugs are a huge problem and junkies will steal anything not nailed down) have bars on the windows, but you don’t see them in suburban Maryland (the areas around Washington DC and Baltimore where the vast majority of the state lives). Even in Baltimore City, by far the most dangerous place in Maryland, most houses don’t have bars and people park on the streets (although putting an anti theft device in the car is probably best). My brother lives in Baltimore City.
However, it is common in parts of Baltimore City to have liquor stores with bulletproof glass protecting the person behind the counter.
My mom in Alabama not only leaves it parked in the driveway, she doesn’t lock her doors. And my dad leaves his keys in the ignition.
You live in a “safe” city in south Africa, which isn’t remotely safe by American standards.
And we don’t usually have Jehovah’s witnesses waltzing into our homes to rob and murder us, so we’re not scared of them?
I’m not worried. Insurance will also replace my broken glass. If my car gets stolen somehow, so be it, but no it doesn’t worry me. Just yesterday I came home from work and I forgot to lock my front door. Nothing happened.
Small town US cop here. Windows getting smashed is pretty rare, at least in the town I work. Now, people leaving their car doors unlocked and getting the change stolen by meth heads? Much more common.
Yes. I live in a low crime area. I think my family’s car has been broken into once while parked on the street in like 60years. We lock the doors mostly to keep them from coming open at night. My sister lives in a high crime area and she would not park on the street, there. We had a back fence when we were little to keep us from wandering off. Never had a front fence. Never had a problem.
Isn’t South Africa one of the most high crime areas of the world?
Our biggest theft problem is animals in the vegetable garden.