Found via BikeFitness‘ Twitter Feed: if you leave your bike unlocked in London, it’s likely to be gone in less than twenty minutes! Seventeen, to be exact. A research study tested length of time to bike theft of an unlocked bicycle in various UK cities, where London ended up being in the lead by far. Not that it’s ever wise to leave a bicycle unlocked for any length of time unsupervised, but this study should add more fuel to the bicycle security fire.
From the story at news:lite:
Shiny new bikes were left in ten city-centres and researchers hid around the corner, timing how long they took to disappear.
All of the bikes were stolen within four hours, with the average being two hours and 22 minutes.
on Jun 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am
If I saw a new bike unlocked in the city centre I would take it…. to the nearest police station. This “research study” was a waste of time and a cheap way for the insurance company involved to get national and international publicity.
on Jun 25th, 2009 at 11:17 am
The cops need to do studies like this, except conclude them by arresting the research subjects. Might not pass an IRB, but cops don’t have those.