Do you lock the doors when you're driving?

[eilonwy]

My husband thinks that this is a little strange, but I insist on making sure that all the doors are locked when Eli is in the car. I'm totally paranoid that someone is going to open the door and climb in back with him! I know it's unlikely.. especially since we don't have one of those interesting, high-risk-for-theft cars, but I just can't shake the fear. But then my husband brought up another point: what if we're in an accident? Wouldn't the locked doors make it harder to get to Eli? Now my head spins when I think about getting in the car! What do you do and why?

[anothermama]

I lock my dd's door, but it's more because I don't want HER opening the door. At least if it's locked, I have that little "click" to tell me if she's tryin' anything funny back there.

I lock the passenger side door if I'm alone, because I just know too many women who've had their purses snatched because they left their passenger door open and purse on the seat next to them. For this reason, though, I also make a habit of putting my purse behind my seat anyways.

I don' t think that the accident thing is valid and heres why....if you are in a minor accident, well, then, the couple extra seconds it takes to get the lock undone isn't going to matter. If you are in a MAJOR accident where you are worried about getting your kid out RIGHT AWAY, well, I'm willing to bet the door isn't even going to be functional. And even if it was, and rescue people are probably going to bust out the window anyhow rather than mess with it. Lots of men in my family are Highway Patrol and they are trained to just butt the window out with their club if its an extreme emergency.

[Mom4tot]

Yes, I do lock the doors when I am driving, either alone or with the kids. I saw a show once about women who were attacked in their cars by someone just opening the car door and shoving the woman over in the front seat. I think it is unlikely the doors being locked would be a hinderence in an accident, as already stated.

[kofduke]

My car doors lock automatically when I go above 15 mph. I've always had a thing about locked car doors, though, especially when my DH and I are driving home from Philly late at night (not that we've done that since DS, but still...)

[momto l&a]

My doors also lock at 15 MPH. If i drive my dh's car then I lock the doors. Too many weirdos standing along the roads for my liking. Though I pity the person that ever tries to enter my car or house for that matter.

I think if a person is in an accident the doors will be beyond opening anyway so being locked wont matter IMO.

[beccaboo]

A few months ago I actually had someone try to open my car door (driver's side) while I was stopped at a red light. It was locked, as it always is. Scary, though!

[Clarity]

Most of our recent cars have doors that lock automatically once you're moving (once DH locked hmself out when the truck rocked on it's suspensuion when he was hjooking up a trailer) but generally, I like it. Strangely, my brand new Honda does not!

I am not a very paranoid person, bit when I used to commute downtown, twice someone tried to open my door. Once might have been bad, the other I think was just an agressive panhandler...he was trying every door down a row of cars. In both cases my door was not locked, but I saw what they were about to do and hit it. So yes, auto locking is very good for me. But awareness is good too. In each case, I saw it coming.

[Nemmer]

Wow, becaboo and Clarity, that is scary! I am not in the habit of locking my doors but I'm trying to remember more often. There have been times I've had a creepy feeling and locked it, but nothing happened. I do think it is safer to have them locked all the time.

[Trishy]

My doors lock automatically but I would lock them even if they didn't. When I was a little girl I was in the car with my mother and my door flew open as she was rounding a corner. Mom reached out and grabbed my shirt and kept me from flying out of the car somehow but it was so scary. I don't know that if my door was locked that it wouldn't have happened and I know that it is less likely to happen with a newer car but I'm not taking my chances.

[village idiot]

Mine also lock automatically above 15 mph. Before I got this vehicle, I locked the doors at night and/or if I went to the city. Too many things happening in the cities.

[girlzmommy00]

I always lock my doors while driving.
It is possible for unlocked doors to fly open on the impact of an accident. Someone I went to high school with, died when his door flew open in an accident (they opened on impact), and he fell out of the car (won't get into details but that was what killed him).
Plus I worry that the girls might open the door while we are driving.

[eilonwy]

Thank you. This thread has validated many of my fears, and I feel better about locking the doors. (Much less like a paranoid freak!) Our doors don't lock automatically, and ds is still rear-facing and in the center of the backseat (though he will be moved to one side when the new baby arrives) so right now he's in no position to unlock the doors. I'm just plain paranoid.. or so I thought.

[mamabee]

yes, but for a different reason

i heard that if the doors are locked, you are safer should you get in accident...soo allways lock the doors...

[asherah]

Heck yes.
I would not want to be carjacked!

[mamalisa]

Always. My mom had soemone get in her car when she was at a red light back in the 60's. Seriously freaked her out and she was paranoid about locking the car ever since.

My dh always drives when we got out and he gets annoyed that I lock the doors if he runs into a store or something. He thinks it's paranoid. I say that he's leaving me, ds, my purse and a brand spanking new Durango sitting in a parking lot running, odds are someone might just want one of those things.

[Jennifer Z]

We lock doors at all times too. DH and I are both really paranoid about it and will lock it even to put gas in the car, or if we are just hopping out of the car "for a few seconds". We are also nuts about seatbelts and always get into it with his best friend every time we have to drive him someplace...he hates seatbelts.

[sweet tea]

Yess!! just last week there was a car-jacking....and i lock out the windows too!

[TiredX2]

Locked here.

DH was actually the one who started it (and I just got used to it) so it is not even a woman thing

[dot2dot]

Add me to the list of door lockers. Every since that story a year or so ago when a lady's baby was stolen out of her van when she was returning a shopping cart in a grocery store parking lot. I think the chances of anything really happening are rare- I freely admit to being paranoid!

[Piglet68]

Wow, do I feel naive.

I had no idea that new cars automatically locked over a certain speed. My car is only 4 years old and it doesn't do that.

I rarely have the doors locked, although on occaison driving through a "rough" neighbourhood I have locked the doors. I like the auto lock key for that reason.

DD can't open the door b/c we have a child safety feature that prevents the door from being opened from the inside (you set it in the door panel and can do it just for the one door or for both). She can't open the windows in the back either: I control it up front.

Maybe from now on I'll start locking them every time I drive. I guess I worry that I'm so used to not locking them I'll end up locking myself out or, worse, locking DD in!