The 12 crimes of Christmas

Christmas is all about spreading love, giving, and joyful moments with your loved ones. However, not everyone can feel and appreciate the holiday cheer. Although most people may embrace the Christmas cheer and spirit, some may take advantage of the busy streets and shopping people, assuming that they bring more money with them than usual.

This trend can also be largely attributed to the absence of a predictable structure during the holiday season, as holidaymakers tend to go out more, resulting in them parking their cars in unsecured areas.

Smash and Grab and car theft are on the list of the 12 crimes of Christmas. And although it sounds like a carol, it can be one of the nightmares of car owners and their passengers especially if it happens during a time when everybody is supposed to be enjoying the festive season.

However, his ordeal also shouldn’t dampen your holiday spirit. The key to managing holiday risk is to be aware of the most important scenarios, and to take simple, relevant safety precautions:

Think about where you park

Criminals tend target vehicles situated in easily accessible spaces, which is often the case during the holiday season, with many vehicles exposed at venues such as beaches, sports stadiums, and shopping malls. The most prudent way to minimise risk in these situations is to park more centrally where there is plenty of light and your vehicle is in full public view. No matter how hard it is to find parking, it’s important that you don’t park your car a long way from the venue you’re visiting, as areas that aren’t inhabited by many people will give criminals easy, unobserved access. It’s worth spending a few extra minutes searching for a good parking place rather than leaving your car in a vulnerable spot.

Don’t forget the manual check

Signal jamming is an easy way for criminals to steal your vehicle, and it is a criminal practice that can easily be avoided. This occurs when drivers walk away from their cars while clicking their remote to lock it. However, unbeknownst to them criminals have interrupted the signal, and the vehicle is therefore unlocked. To avoid this occurrence, simply check that your vehicle has been locked before departing the vehicle.

Keep your valuables with you

There is a high chance of possessions being stolen from a vehicle if valuables such as cell phones tablets and wallets are left inside them in plain sight. Smash and grab criminals are especially adept at spotting easily accessible items at traffic lights, and leaving valuables in parked cars is an open invitation for theft. As such, it is important that you don’t leave any valuables accessible and open in a vehicle, and always keep them either on your person, or hidden from view and inaccessible at all times.

Use an alarm system

Using an alarm system will increase your security on the road, as it will instantly alert the public should there be an attempt to steal your car. To add further security value, it is recommended that you use a tracking device. Tracking devices should be checked at regular intervals to ensure they remain in good working order. Most tracking and stolen-vehicle recovery companies offer a device testing service. Visit your supplier’s website for information and call-centre details.

Is your tracking device jamming resistant?

Car thieves now also use central-locking jamming devices to prevent remotes from locking their owners’ vehicles and arming the car alarm. Other signal jammers sabotage the workings of the vehicle-tracking device itself. Fortunately, some tracking companies have developed measures to combat this.

It is important that you upgrade your vehicle-tracking device regularly to ensure that it has the latest crime-fighting technology embedded inside it and keeps you safe from technology-driven crime.

Always be aware of your surroundings

The festive season is a time when people are more relaxed, and as such, they tend to let their guard down. Criminals are quick to pick up on the fact that people are not aware of their surroundings and view these people as potentially easy targets.

It’s critical that you have your wits about you even when you’re in holiday mode; take the appropriate steps to ensure your safety and that of your vehicle. Make sure that you aren’t being followed, look around for suspicious activity, avoid high crime areas and be attentive to any threat. By simply doing the small things like approaching intersections slowly so you avoid coming to a complete stop. This will make it harder for any hijackers to target you, also do not allow yourself to get boxed in at intersections: in cases where you do have to come to a complete stop, always leave enough space between you and the vehicle in front of you so that you have space to make an emergency exit manoeuvre. These tips will prevent you from becoming another victim.