BAD habits are hard to break. That was the reason many drivers gave for not removing their CashCards from the In-vehicle Unit (IU), or even concealing it with a cover, when polled by my paper for an article on Monday.
The piece, "Motorists complacent, so rise in CashCard thefts", reported that many drivers do not bother with taking special precautions - despite reports on the rise in thefts of CashCards from vehicles.
A 40-year-old IT executive, one of the 20 drivers polled, said: "I guess I will (take more precautions), but I don't know when I'll do it."
The drivers who spoke to my paper gave various reasons for their bad habits.
Some said they are afraid they will forget to put the CashCard back in the IU. The risk of getting a fine when they pass through the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries is too much for them, they said.
Others added that they live in condominums or use open-air carparks, which they say are not as risky as the multi-storey carparks that are more commonly targeted.
But whatever the reason, it boiled down to the mentality that they can't be so unlucky as to be the next victim.
It takes only a few seconds to remove and keep the CashCard, but it could possibly take a few days - and several hundred to a thousand dollars - to have a smashed windscreen replaced.
For a businesswoman who was one of the 22 victims whose windscreens were smashed and CashCards stolen on Feb 8, it was definitely a lesson learnt the hard way.
Even though she had covered her IU, the thief was smart enough to understand that the CashCard must have been in the unit to warrant the effort to conceal it, she said.
She lost the $20 in her CashCard, but that was nothing compared with the $600 to replace her windscreen. She said: "Never will I ever leave my CashCard in the IU again."
Police statistics show there were 640 cases of thefts of CashCards from vehicles last year, up from 548 cases in 2006.
Well, here are some tips on kicking the habit of leaving your CashCard in the IU:
Remove the CashCard daily. Consistency is critical if you want to make it stick. Do it for at least three weeks and a new, better habit will be formed.
Place a sticker note in your car to remind yourself, if you happen to be the inspiration behind the movie 50 First Dates.
Reward yourself when you have successfully taken the CashCard out at the end of every day for one month. Spend the $600 that you could have lost to a thief on some pampering.
Research has shown that three to four weeks is all that is needed to change your habits.
You may think it's all a lot of hassle for nothing, but better a little inconvenience than a broken windscreen, I say.
