How to Avoid A Carjacking

It's difficult to find accurate, nation-wide statistics for it, but whether Carjackings are up, or down, they remain a serious threat to drivers everywhere. Sometimes, a carjacking is simply an attempt to get a car, and once the driver is out of the car and away, the carjacker doesn't pay any more attention to them. But other times, carjackers take the car, and the life, of the driver they carjack. Let's take a closer look at carjackings, and some steps to prevent them.

Carjacking is the attempted theft of a car from its rightful owner, usually using a weapon or other kind of threat. According to the U.S. State Department, most carjackings occur in urban areas, or in areas where there are not many people. Most of the carjackings that occur in the United States deal with urban drivers, so that is where this article will focus.

The State Department's  Carjacking, Don't be a Victim page (found at https://www.state.gov/m/ds/rls/rpt/19782.htm ) gives great information about the kinds of carjacks, how to avoid them, and how to decide whether or not to fight back. That website will be the main source I will use in this article, and even though the webpages focus is on international carjacking, there is much there that can be used with carjacking in the United States.

First off, the State Department says your first best weapon against carjacking is to not put yourself in a situation where it can happen. They say to be careful of urban areas, intersections or anywhere you have to stop, and areas that cause traffic backups and trap cars, such as cul de sacs, or gated driveways. There is one other major way that a driver can avoid a carjacking, and that is to not make themselves an attractive victim. This is done by first off making sure that all the doors are locked as soon as the driver gets in the car, and making sure that all the windows in the car are up.  It's also done by not having anything in the car that could be attractive to a robber (in other words, cover your valuables. Imagine driving through a dangerous downtown, with a new TV in the front seat. That is what you don't want to be advertising anytime you drive).

But that's not all a driver can do to aid avoidance. The other thing is to keep your focus. Many times, drivers use traffic stops or traffic tie ups as chances to check their phones, or to just zone out as an escape from the monotony of driving. This is a very bad idea. The average carjacker has two things in his or her favor: surprise, and fear. The driver that is going through their day oblivious to their surroundings is just what a carjacker is looking for. And make no mistake, like other thieves, carjackers are creatures of opportunity. They might see a Mercedes with all of it's windows down a quarter of a mile away, but if they walk by a car with its windows rolled down, and an oblivious driver at the wheel, who do you think a carjacker is going to go after first? That's right, the oblivious driver.

Sometimes though, avoidance is not enough. There are times when a driver is just at the wrong place at the wrong time, what then? Well this is where your preparedness will come in to play. If you have your doors locked and your windows up, the carjacker can't get in to your car. But that is not their only weapon. The State Department lists four ways that carjackers, using cars, can get your car:

• The Bump. A bump occurs when a group of carjackers, driving behind the target car, intentionally hit the target car. When the driver of the target car gets out to inspect the damage or to see if the person who hit them is OK, a carjacker jumps in to the victim car, and drives away. 
• The Good Samaritan. This one is clever. A group of carjackers will stage a fake accident. A driver will see the accident, stop, and try to render aid, While they are out of the car, a carjacker takes the car. 
• The Ruse. A carjacker uses the car's lights and his or her voice to indicate to the victim's car that there is a problem with their car. The victim, being concerned, pulls over to investigate. While they are out of the car, a carjacker takes the car.
• The Trap. This one occurs when carjackers use daily things, like gates, to trap the victim car. Once the car is trapped, the carjacker can go up to the victim, flash a gun or a knife, and get an easy car as the driver will know that there is nowhere they can go.

Spare a quick thought to the potential innocent bystander in all of the above mentioned scenarios: passengers. Very often, there are children in a carjacked car, and more than once carjackers have been known to either throw children out of moving cars, or place them on the side of the road. The carjacker is more interested in getting the car, a kid is a nuisance that is quickly dealt with. 

So what should you do if you are bumped? Drive until you get to a safe, public place.  Then stop. If the person doesn't follow you, it might be a good indication that you were a victim of a bump. Call the police, tell them what happened, and get instructions from them. If  you see an accident by the road, don't stop unless you are a doctor, and even then, be wary. Call the police or 911 to report the situation. .But don't get out of your car. Call for help, and  then wait if you feel you must, but do so from a safe distance. If you see someone pointing to your car or gesticulating that you have an issue, do not follow them to where they want to go. Just like with the bump, go to a safe, public place, and check your car out. Above all, follow your gut. If you get a feeling that this doesn't seem right, follow it and get out of there. 

Now how do you fight back if you are carjacked? If you have followed my advice here and kept your windows up and your doors locked, you will be a tough target for a carjack, especially if the carjacker is on foot. I remember a carjacking that happened in Phoenix about ten years ago. A car thief was running from police. He pulled a gun on a woman who was pulling out of a store parking lot. Luckily, this woman was smart. Her windows were up and her doors were locked. The carjacker tried to open the doors and banged on the window, but it was as much use as the Fox trying to blow the brick house down. The driver of the car acted instead of waiting, and took off as fast as she could. She ended up throwing the carjacker to the ground as she drove off, potentially saving her life and the life of anyone else in that car.

The State Department has a list of things that a driver should go through to determine whether or not to fight  back when carjacked, but I feel many of those are a bit beyond the scope of this article. My fervent hope for anyone reading this is that you will get in to the habit of keeping your doors locked, and your windows up. Yes, I understand that it will be tough if you don't have air conditioning in the summer and you have to roll up your windows. Yes, I know that when it's 75 and gorgeous outside, you want to drive with your windows down, the radio up, and you want to put all of your focus on how good it all feels. But be careful, because those are just the kinds of people carjackers prey on. And you won't see them coming. Carjackers are desperate men or women. Only you will know your situation, but according to the State Department, the best thing to do is give them the car. This might hold true for most situations, and most times, and once the carjacker  gets the car, you might never have to see them again, but there are enough other cases to make one question the validity of doing what a carjacker wants. Take a look at the following incidents reported in Curt Rich's excellent book, "Drive to Survive"

• Incident 14: A woman was getting gas at a self-service gas station. A recently released parolee demanded her keys. She gave them to him. He shot and killed her and took the car. The car was a cheap, common, Japanese sedan.
• Incident 16: A young woman was waiting in a drive-thru line at a fast food restaurant. A young man shot her, dragged the blood-soaked body out  of the car and drove away. At his trial, he admitted that he killed her. He had run out of gas in his getaway car from a convenience store robbery, and needed a car with a full tank of gas.
• Incident 17: A young mother, as she got in to her car in a parking lot was thrown to the ground by an attacker, who proceeded to take her car and drive off. Her baby was strapped into the back seat, so she tried to hang on to the car to rescue her child. The carjacker, seeing this, brushed the car up against a guard rail in an attempt to dislodge the mother, killing her. Later, they threw the baby, car seat and all, out on to the median of a freeway. The child survived because it was in a car seat.

The above incidents might be one in a million shots, or they might be more common than is reported, but I would advise anyone reading this to not trust a carjacker to do what they say they will do.

The moral of the story: stay aware, stay focused, stay behind locked doors and rolled up windows. My advice, and take it for what it's worth, as I'm a person who has never been carjacked, and has never worked in law enforcement, is to not yield to carjackers. My suggestion is to fight back. The first step in that is keeping your windows up and your doors locked. The next step is to always remain focused, and not get yourself in to situations where you could be carjacked. If you do get carjacked, drive off if you can like the woman in Phoenix. Above all, do not make yourself an easy target. Make the carjacker have to look elsewhere for his or her ride, and stay safe. Until next time...