Snakes on a car
While the theft of your car audio system is not quite the disaster of actual car theft, it’s safe to say that having your car’s radio stolen is a major inconvenience. It usually involves a broken window and a damaged dashboard and wiring, not to mention the hardship of being without your favourite tunes whenever you hit the road.
South Africa’s crime rate is notoriously high, and even though various ministers and police chiefs advocate a shoot first ask questions later policy for police officers, car theft, carjacking and theft from cars remain a serious concern. There are a number of ways for you to try safeguarding your car to keep it and all that it contains right where you left it; they range from the conventional to the dangerous and bizarre.
Car alarms, immobilisers, gear locks, steering wheel locks and even wheel locks rank amongst the most common and conventional anti-theft prevention measures, with many people using a combination of the above. Tracking systems are also popular, although they don’t so much prevent car theft as track your stolen car to return it to you.
Anti-theft devices are also not much good when it comes to the security of your car’s audio system. Some alarms are only set to go off when car doors are opened, so all an aspirant thief has to do is break your window, reach in and skedaddle with the goods. At worst thieves will have to wiggle through the broken window to wrestle your radio from its nook, and given the level of apathy (or fear) in South Africa, even if he or she is seen, no one is likely to try and stop them or call the police.
One way to get around this problem is to buy a radio with a detachable face, this way you can remove obvious signs of your car audio system and hopefully deter any would-be thieves from breaking in just to try their luck. Some car manufacturers are looking at ways to make car radios retractable, which is also aimed at reducing temptation and preventing attempted thefts. Certain car audio systems only work once car owners enter a unique security code or pin number, which renders them useless to car thieves and theft syndicates, but radios are often stolen before thieves realise their mistake.
As a result, people have been driven to adopt desperate measures to try and keep their cars and car audio systems safe. A fairly popular passive/aggressive method is to buy a scary looking snake and keep it in your car. Given that most people are terrified of snakes you don’t even have to get a particularly big or dangerous one; a harmless garden snake would deter most would-be thieves. Pythons, however, are particularly popular car theft prevention reptiles, because they’re huge they’re very intimidating and because they’re not venomous car owners are able to handle them with a relatively low level of risk.
Then there is the Blaster, which doesn’t really prevent the theft of your car or your car audio system but is designed to deter potential carjackers, permanently. The Blaster was invented in 1998 by Charl Fourie, a South African determined to take a stand against alarmingly high carjacking statistics. Also known as the BMW Flamethrower, the blaster is basically a flamethrower positioned underneath your car. It’s activated by a pedal on the floor, so you can use it even if you have to raise your hands above your head. Fourie says that his device ‘neurtralises’ attackers and is ‘unlikely’ to kill but will ‘definitely’ blind anyone who tries to hi-jack your car. In a nervous society, it’s likely that there will be a dramatic increase to the visually impaired population.
Car theft continues to be a problem in South Africa, but with a little common sense and the help of conventional prevention methods, you can be reasonably sure that the only reason you can’t find your car is because you forgot where you parked it.
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