[extropy-chat] When Did (or Do) People Start Locking Doors?

[Lee Corbin]

Fred writes

> In addition to locking doors of a home, it is interesting to consider
> when locking doors of a car became more widespread.  I can remember a
> time when cars were typically not locked in store parking lots.

Thanks for bringing up this important aspect!  I can even remember as
a young adult trying to open people's cars to turn off their lights and being
surprised that the doors were locked.  This data point suggests to
me that in southern California something changed in the mid-seventies.

I began locking my car doors when I moved to northern California about
1980.

Lee

> Also many of the older models did not have the alerts to notify you that the
> headlights were on and thus it was not uncommon for people to walk by a
> car with the headlights on and to open the door and turn the lights off
> and then continue on.
> 
> Fred