Posted on 10/27/2002 12:57:37 PM PST by traditionalist
You need a lesson in standard English. You said alarms have a "deterent effect on claims." Claims are not persons. They do not make decisions. Hence they cannot be deterred.
Now you are trying to assert that car alarms,by deterring theves, reduce the dollar value of theft claims that insurance companies have to pay. This assertion is simply false. Alarms do not deter thieves because no one pays attention to alarms. When was the last time you called the cops when you heard an alarm go off?
Insurance actuaries do not conclude that alarms reduce the risk of theft, as a citation in the article demostrates. The only reason insurance companies give discounts for alarms is because state law requires them to.
This is a case of the "haves," as you call, them receiving a subsidy from those of us who don't have alarms, and further violating our right to sleep/work/talk/relax in peace by having their alarms go off. Car alarm owners are welfare recipients of sorts.
You talk a lot about lockouts, and I seem how thay can make a difference. But a lockout is not the same thing as an alarm. You can have lockouts without an alarm. The alarm itself does no one any good and just causes people to loose sleep. If your alarm goes of on my street, you're getting a rock through your windshield.
You also need a lesson in logic. The bias of the author has no bearing on whether his argument is valid or not.
It's only because of state law. If insurance companies weren't required to give dicounts for alarms, they wouldn't do it. Ask any actuary.
While I agree with you that these things are incredibly annoying and the owner of said vehicle should be flogged with rotten fish, the problem isn't the alarm in general, it's the stupid vibration sensor people put on their alarms. Get rid of the sensor, get rid of the problem. If people really want their security system reacting every little thing they can hook their vibration sensor up to a stun gun wired to the door handles. It usually won't make any noise and when it does, the screams won't last nearly as long as the alarm. :)
Then he might be able to communicate without having to use all that multi-colored bold text as a crutch (I suppose it's the FR equivalent of the animated icons that litter the DUmpster, though less often seen because most FReepers can communicate without pretty shinies).
Simply provide explicit legal authorization for citizens to take the necessary action to end the disturbance (e.g. break into the car and silence the noisemaker) and the problem takes care of itself.
Hey. Knock yourself out. Just remember that over half of all Americans own at least one firearm, which probably includes most people who have car alarms. So, just don't be surprised if you find yourself on the receiving end of someone else's 2nd Amendment Rights.
If you own a car alarm that creates a noisy disturbance, rip it out... before someone else, with perfect justification, does it for you.
I know a number of Certified Automotive Electronics installers that would disagree with that statement.
Use the sledgehammer to smash the vehicles parking light lense. If it's a cheap alarm and does not have a fuse protected parking light flash circuit...you can then remove the bulb and short out the socket and it will fry the alarm brain. More expensive units have fuse protection on this circuit.
As another course of action....on windy days you can keep triggering this guys alarm and it should have zone bypass which means it will trigger...then sound the siren for a minute or two and reset. Trigger it again (a stiff kick to the left front tire should do it or a flat hand slap to the windshield) and it will do the same thing but at the end of the second cycle the brain will bypass the shock sensor that is being triggered by the wind. Now it will no longer react to the wind.
Engineers are required by law to sound their horns at all crossings. Two shorts and a long blast as a warning to clear out.
Alarm systems do deter would be thieves. A large percetage of thieves are joy riders and a large percentage of thefts occur at night. The one piece of equipment in a complete system that acts as the main deterent is the red flashing L.E.D. on the dash board. When a thief looks in and sees it, they will usually go to another vehicle rather than call attention to themselves and find an easier target.
It is human nature and it works.
No.
So you advocate vandalism?
So what was the excuse for people *before* car alarms?
But you're right, they are a pain in the hiny and seem to be pretty useless. Crying wolf- like railroad crossing signs that continually go off when there's no train coming or dormitory/apartment fire alarms that go off erratically. People start to ignore them.
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