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If the news reports coming out of Chicago, Portland, New York, Seattle, Milwaukee and other hotspots for crime haven’t told you already: you need to keep your eyes open these days. And according to some recently circulating legends, one of the key indicators that you’re about to become the former owner of your motor vehicle could be the presence of a plastic bottle wedged between your tire and the wheel-well. Of course, some vehicles may make this difficult to accomplish.
This is what it’s allegedly supposed to look like:
According to Distractify,
“Did You Know? explained the idea behind the trick and noted that it was first reported in Limpopo, South Africa. After that first incident, a video made in Mexico, which warned others about the perilous act, quickly went viral.”
Apparently, the trick works a bit like this:
- A car thief will target an unattended vehicle.
- They will then squeeze a plastic bottle between the tire and wheel well.
- The would-be thief then lays in wait.
- As the driver backs out or pulls away, the bottle breaks or squeals against the body/tire.
- Typically the sound will spur an unwary driver to stop the car and walk around to inspect for damage.
- At this time the thief/thieves will rush the car and either steal it or its contents.
So Is The Bottle Trick Legit Or Bunk?
This one gets chalked up to anecdotal, even Snopes (who are in the very business of proving wrong everything possible, had to declare this one “Unproven”. According to Snopes, “The post was shared more than a quarter of a million times in under a week, but the claims made were far from novel. Use of an empty plastic bottle was simply a variation on a long-running theme in urban legends about crime and how to avoid being targeted by those who might do one harm. Before thieves were purportedly using plastic bottles to carjack drivers, popular iterations of the rumor held the same feat was accomplished by:
- $100 bills under a windshield wiper;
- Discarded shirts;
- Perfume samples;
- Diamond rings from Kay Jewelers;
- Stealing license plates or tags”
At the end of the day, it’s simply called ‘situational awareness’ and it saves lives. Keep your eyes open and your heads on a swivel and you’ll do just fine.
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