I know that in certain countries like Japan or South Korea: it’s normal to leave the front door unlocked since the probaility of someone breaking in is low since their crime rate isn’t high. I knew a friend of mine who resides in Korea where they even left the car unlocked with the keys inside, can you do either of those things in America?
Depends where youre at. Growing up, I lived in the middle of no where. We rarely locked our doors, even if we were not home or on vacation. I live in DFW, TX now. I generally keep the doors locked when home or away. That being said, I have left the doors unlocked when I’ve gone to work and left the doors unlocked and even the garage door open
My bf sometimes leaves a door unlocked or doesn’t shut it all the way. I’ll get up in the morning, realize it’s cold downstairs, and go down to find the door standing wide open. So far we haven’t been murdered, so…
It is highly dependent on where you live. And it’s not density-specific, either. Some cities are sketchier than others. Some rural areas are sketchier than others.
In most cities a block really does make a difference. Where I am I wouldn’t feel afraid if I forgot to lock the door one night. I think it’s weird not to now (having a woman in the house opened my eyes to a lot of new horrors I never once had to worry about).
However, if I went 15 blocks in one direction or another, damn right I’d be sure to turn the car around to make sure I locked the door.
I’m more worried about my door blowing open and my pets getting out. Locking the door takes like 1 second and I do it out of habit. Whether it’s safe or not to not leave it unlocked isn’t even a thought that enters my mind. Everyone that needs to be inside is inside. If someone else comes they can knock. Why would I leave it unlocked? Like, for real, it’s one second of effort.
Living in a top 25 murder per 100k capita area, windows are locked, doors locked, cars locked, bright outdoor lights, backyard fence padlocked, cameras recording and on battery backup lol.
When I lived in LA and Atlanta, motherfuckers would steal the milk out of your coffee. I kept everything completely locked up, put away and hidden. I now live in northern Wisconsin and I dont lock anything. I dont think anyone around here does. This is the safest community I’ve ever been a part of and I love it.
Wouldn’t advise leaving things unlocked overnight in general, but it’ll depend where in the US. Here out in the exurbs I have neighbors who haven’t locked their houses or cars in years, but I just personally wouldn’t fall asleep without locking my doors. Maybe it’s the true crime podcasts getting to me.
In my parent’s area, where it’s like 40 people per square mile, yeah it’s perfectly safe. It’s a hard mindset to get out of for me, I live in metro Detroit now. My neighborhood is nice, low crime. Good school district. We leave our house unlocked for short periods, like going g to pick up our kid from daycare or taking a walk to the park. Sometimes it gets left unlocked accidentally overnight. Nothing has ever happened.
I also am in the habit of never locking my car. There’s nothing in it, except my daughter’s carseat and some quarters for the Aldi carts. Only once has anything been taken, and that was in a mall parking lot. They stole two throw pillows, and a warm coat. I can only assume it was a homeless person, so I’m not even mad. At least with unlocked doors I don’t worry about my windows being broken.
Depends on location. I wouldn’t leave my doors or windows unlocked in any major US city with a population of 100k or more. I live in NY but about three hours north of NYC in a small village of 2500. I never lock my doors and have no fears whatsoever.
I live in Suburban North Carolina, I haven’t locked my house in years.
As I move into bigger and bigger cities the people around me insist the answer is no, but I regularly leave the doors unlocked. I also have no issue hitchhiking either so, maybe i’m a bit of an outlier. I’ve got infinite levels of trust in people.
Growing up on a small town in Iowa, I would leave my car unlocked and windows down during the day. I lived rural and we never locked our door. Now there’s been more development near my mother’s house and she locks the door at night and when she’s not home. Someone down the street about a mile away had someone break into their house. Unfortunately for the perp, the home owner heard, grabbed a golf club and gave the dude a shiner and a titlists face tattoo.
Now I live in a larger metro area and keep my doors locked all day. I truly wouldn’t need to because we have a pretty safe community, but my wife grew up in a worse place so it’s more habit than anything. We also have dogs they could potentially pop a door open and get out, so extra piece of mind.
Couldn’t tell you. It’s just a habit for me to lock my shit up when I leave/not using it (car, house, etc.).
I don’t know how people are fine with leaving their house/car unlocked just because. I also don’t trust people because I’ve had way, way too many experiences with complete and total dumbass idiots who don’t know what they’re doing with themselves to be able to leave anything to chance.
It isn’t safe to leave your doors unlocked anywhere in the world. It’s not just a crime thing you wanna block the entrances to your house to keep animals out, To stop it from drifting open during weather event that can damage your house, To seal the house to keep vermin and pestilence out.
Being safe is such a broad term.
Idk what kind of animals or weather you are dealing with that know how to open doors.
cctv is not as much of a thing in the us. Largely dependent on bussinesses and not much so far with public cameras. Few places are going to have rates that low but they exist and ones with higher rates still have people that by and large keep the door unlocked. Its mostly a perceived thing really though. Im not sure I would call it safe just because its uncommon. I always thought it was foolish to not utilze something like it but I do tend to use the bolt as its easier to not lock myself out because I have to use a key to lock the door.
