Some friends were talking about an incident they heard on the news about a woman being carjacked and thrown in the trunk of her own car. How terrifying that would be. And what were they going to do to her when they arrived at their destination? As we all know, they only kind of people who would actually have first-hand experience of being locked in a car trunk would be (a) mobsters and (b) really, really bad children. Not too many years ago, I recall a lady had been taking her child with her to a bar in the Chicago suburbs. He couldn’t go into the bar, so she would leave him safely stashed in the trunk of her car with a flashlight so he could do his homework. She got caught doing this because she was bragging to other bar patrons of how good of a student he was because he gets a lot of studying done in the trunk of her car. As for the recent event, hijacking a car (also known as grand theft auto…we’ve all played that game) is a major offense, but kidnapping is a whole other long, painful prison term.
So, if something like this happened to you, would you know how to escape? According to Jeff Rossen who does NBC’s Today Show Rossen Reports, since 2001 law requires that all cars must be equipped with an escape latch in the trunk of a car. And, he says, that most people are unaware that this latch actually glows in the dark. So, now would be a good time to take a gander inside your trunk to locate the latch. If you cannot find it, this would be a good excuse to open the factory seal on that car manual that you’ve never looked at. If you still have no luck locating it, ask someone at your dealership or perhaps your auto mechanic may even be able to help you to locate it.
Always expect the unexpected. And be ready for whatever situation may present itself to you. Perhaps this may save your life someday and keep your mug from being a headline in the news.
Until next week…
Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist
Locked In a Car Trunk – Comedy Defensive Driving