Troopers across Maryland are continuing to educate drivers that leaving a vehicle running, or with the keys in it, are the quickest ways to have it stolen. Leaving a vehicle unoccupied with the engine running is also illegal. Most violators, fortunate enough to find their vehicle still there when they returned have been issued warnings, but could have found a state trooper waiting to issue a citation that carries a fine of $70 and one point. Maryland motor vehicle law states that before a person driving a motor vehicle may leave it unattended, he or she must stop the engine, lock the ignition, remove the key, and set the parking brake.
Although Maryland law enforcement and citizens working together have driven down vehicle thefts to record lows in recent years, there were still more than 16,000 vehicles stolen in Maryland 2011. That works out to a motor vehicle theft occurring every 33 minutes. More than 50 percent of the vehicles stolen were unlocked and more than 30 percent of the stolen vehicles had the keys inside them. Investigators estimate that as many as 4,000 of those vehicles stolen were actually running at the time they were stolen.
Car thieves are like anyone else. They love to find ways to make their job easier. State and local police know that as the cold weather persist, there will be more reports of vehicles stolen while they sat running in front of a house, a convenience store, or a gas station. Owners always report they were just ‘warming up’ their car, or they were only in the convenience store for a few seconds.
Police have scores of cases involving car thieves cruising neighborhoods early in the morning just looking for the telltale plume of exhaust from an unoccupied vehicle. Other thieves loiter around store parking lots watching for the driver who leaves his or her vehicle running just to keep it warm while they go inside. This especially concerns police when it involves parents who leave their children in cars with the engine running. Car thieves don’t always check to see who is in the back seat before stealing the vehicle.
Maryland state troopers at all 22 barracks will carry on specific initiatives to locate unoccupied vehicles with the engines running. They will focus on commercial areas and communities, depending on their areas of responsibility and the locations of their highest rates of vehicle thefts.
State Police are reminding drivers that the most important steps to vehicle theft prevention are easy – lock your car and take the key. Additional layers of protection can be added, such as using a mechanical anti-theft device, etching the vehicle identification number onto various locations of the automobile, and investing in a vehicle tracking security system.
5 comments:
I take it this is a western shore thing or urban thing. Common sense is a thing of the past and the storm errr state troopers need educated the mentally deficient. I am very glad to live in an area where I can leave the keys in my vehicles and don't feel the need to lock my house whether at home or away. When in the urban blight of Salisbury, I lock my vehicle unless my trusted companion is with me. If he is, I leave my vehicle running and unlocked while getting fuel or shopping including Walmart/Sam's club. Yeah I know...its illegal to leave a dog in the vehicle too...I leave the AC on in the summer and heat in the winter. The trooper or criminal that chooses to open the door will not be a happy camper. I have yet to see a person drive while away while there is 100lbs. of angry dog chomping on them. He truly thinks it is his home and will not let anyone in unless I am there.
Next time you need a cop and are told they are all to busy to respond right now you will know they are out looking for vehicles running. How do they keep coming up with these insane ideas?
I guess every winter, the State Police will announce the "Idling Car Campaign", where troopers, who have NEVER driven through the neighborhood before, will be cruising ("saturation patrols") around, looking for idling cars, (like mine). Headline the next day? "Trooper Jones shot and killed trying to sneak up on a car without an occupant". I'll tell you now --- I let my car idle EVERY DAY. I STRONGLY urge the cops to look the other way.
I wonder if people that have the auto start feature on their cars will get a ticket. I know with our auto start as soon as you put your foot on the brake to put it into gear the engine cuts off unless you have the key in the ignition. Is it still illegal to use the auto start?
How much more are 'we the people' going to let them shove crap down our throats?
Was this so called law voted on? When? By who?
Or did some dingbat legislator just decide to take it upon themself to protect us from ourselves again?
They tell you the correct way to change laws and things you don't like is to discuss it, vote on it, petition the government, etc.
It seems to me, and maybe only me, that the government is a bully who is looking to start a fight.
Government has gotten way too big. And powerful. It was never supposed to be this way.
Instead of the private sector losing jobs, downsizing, jumping through government hoops and tax traps, the government is the entity that needs its jobs slashed, payroll drastically reduced, their grip of power released, and reduced to size and power of only what the people and the constitution allow.
Stop giving aid to foreign powers. Do we really need 700 military bases worldwide?
Do we really need to be the world's policeman? Or to police our own citizens to the point of a police state?
Let the people run their own businesses. Let them be competitive and only the strong and ethical survive.
Let the people defend themselves. The government, the police, simple cannot. This has been proven over and over.
You cannot protect someone by disarming them and making them victims.
Term limits for EVERY seat in government. Do a few years public service and go home, back to your own families and jobs. No more career government workers. None.
We have an owners manual to tell us how to run government. It's called the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
That is all we need. And not a 1,000 lawyers to interpret it either.
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