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Uber Eats driver loses livelihood when thieves steal his car, then use it to smash into a Newbury Street store

And now, as they say, the rest of the story. WBZ interviews the man, who had left his car running to pick up an order at a Somerville McDonald's only to come out to see his car gone.

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Comments

Blocking the bus or bike lane. Parked in a crosswalk or in any of the usual places they park.

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He definitely had it coming!

Why wasn't he in school!

./s

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Who is they?

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No sympathy from me. Your sole means of support you leave unlocked, with keys, and running. I password protect my computer and leave it in my locked house instead of unlocked, sitting in a MxDonald’s parking lot while I run in for a minute. Plus that’s terrible on the environment to leave your car running. Whine all you like.

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I hope the car wasn't wearing anything too revealing. That's a sign it wants to be stolen to commit a felony.

But keeping squeaking out your stupidity Pee Wee.

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Actually, the guy said(on tv) he left the keys in the car and it was running. I am not jumping into the trap you set, but i don't understand people that do this.

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I don't think I would ever feel comfortable leaving my car unlocked, keys in ignition, engine running. But I see it all the time.

Mind you, I'm not blaming the victim here! No one should steal cars. I just find it weird that people are not more paranoid about this. (Maybe if you have a delivery job you just slowly get used to the idea? Sometimes known as "normalization of deviance".)

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There is the concept of contributory negligence. It doesn't change the fact that the people who stole his car are criminally liable for the auto theft. His actions didn't make them steal the car. However, he could easily find himself losing a percentage of the value of his car in a civil case for the replacement of his car because he contributed by being so negligent as to not use the built-in safety methods all cars come with (take your key, lock your doors).

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Where in the policy of insurance does it say the car owner must lock car, take keys, not leave running, etc? Contract actions don’t have contributory negligence as an affirmative defense. He’ll be making a claim against his own insurance policy.

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You can lock up the car running if you need to.

Some cars with keyless ignitions won't move if you don't have the chip in the car.

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… shut off his engine at least. And still left the keys there for the thieves.

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I've never worked a delivery job. Have you?

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Didn’t realize it was ok to break state idling laws if you are a delivery driver…

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On Your Bike

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When the Idaho Stop comes to MA as it has to
other states?

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There were no bikes mentioned in this article. Better luck going forward!

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I actually don't understand how it is worth the millisecond you save. I cannot do this. Years ago I had a volvo that needed that was very hard to star in the cold and I would warm it up but I got a 2nd set of keys so I could keep it locked.

As for idling, it is not that petty to me to enforce this. My neighbor is full of cars that get "warmed up" by remote start when it is 49 degrees outside. I don't get it. Maybe a special tax on remote starters or just outlaw them, we don't live in Alaska.

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I'm not even gonna touch the "ok to break " bait; it has a particularly noxious smell in a state where traffic laws are routinely disregarded, and most are potentially much more harmful than that. The reason why I asked is because I imagine it's a real hard job that requires a lot of hustle, and that a driver might conclude (perhaps not correctly) that they do better if they don't shut the car off. IOW, it was my poor attempt to say that this was probably a case of someone trying to do a difficult job and not someone intentionally trying to harm your lungs. They took a risk and it didn't pay off. I expect they won't make that mistake again, but meanwhile they have no means of making a living.

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and locking the car, then unlocking and restarting it when he returned? At most a minute.

Well, he saved that minute. And lost his car.

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I'll be your anecdata.

I've been a bike messenger and have done deliveries in a motor vehicle.

I always locked my bike and always turned the car off and took the keys.

No, people shouldn't steal things, but they do, and there's a reason we have things set up to require keys to take.

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… turning off the car is a good way to keep people from getting in and driving it away. I hope he had comprehensive. (Given his reaction to the story, I'd guess he did.)

The lesson, kids, is to take the keys out of the ignition when you get out of your car. (I'm not really sure that needed to be a lesson, but here we are.)

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dink = dual income no kids

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At people that steal cars? Victim blame much?

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Yes. If the victim is partly to blame, then the victim deserves part of the blame.

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Anyone can take it? Ok, got it!

Have you ever left your wallet, phone, keys, front door open? If I were to take those things and use them, you’re admitting fault?

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Since it's a car theft can we agree that people who acknowledge that this happens and think about it when they leave their car have a lower probability of this happening to them? It's ok. Just a car. I know where you're coming from.

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Nobody is saying the guy is an accomplice to their crime(s).

But look up the concept of contributory negligence. He may find out that they won't be fully responsible for his loss because he didn't do common sense things like turn off or lock his car when leaving it unattended.

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..the poor soul who's waiting for their Big Mac & fries?

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Magoo leaves Magoo’s scooter unlocked and running when Magoo runs into 7-11 to get a Slush Puppy. Magoo.

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Good Morning, Magoo

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is that they all clown on cars all day long and are continually perpetuating the fantasy that cars should be banned from Boston.

Even funnier when you consider how many of these privileged morons have Amazon Prime accounts that use cars to deliver their purchases and use Uber Eats to get food delivered.

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Do you have the numbers?

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… with UberEats when they can get their junk food faster on their bike?
Plus burn calories and thus be less likely to become a lard ass after eating it?

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Burning calories isn't a very effective way of keeping weight off. You'd need to do a *huge* amount of cardio to do that!

Much more effective is just reducing the amount you eat, and watching *what* you eat. (And when. Time-restricted eating is extremely effective.)

I'm sure biking is great for cardio health, but I'd be pretty skeptical that it helps with weight loss.

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Before the pandemic, I was biking about 10 miles roundtrip to and from work each day. I lost about 30 lbs doing it over a little more than a year and felt good.

Calories in are important but so are calories out.

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Bike nut here.

I don't know the answers to your "questions," but I will say as a bike person that I don't subscribe to your food moralizing or fatphobia.

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Amazing how many loud opinions we have on here, and how little actually looking up the laws and the facts.

https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlexiv/chapter90/sect...

The law unambiguously prohibits leaving your car unsecured

No person having control or charge of a motor vehicle, except a person having control or charge of a police, fire or other emergency vehicle in the course of responding to an emergency or a person having control or charge of a motor vehicle while engaged in the delivery or acceptance of goods, wares or merchandise for which the vehicle's engine power is necessary for the loading or unloading of such goods, wares or merchandise, shall allow such vehicle to stand in any way and remain unattended without stopping the engine of said vehicle, effectively setting the brakes thereof or making it fast, and locking and removing the key from the locking device and from the vehicle

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"...shall allow such vehicle to stand in any way..." is talking about being on a public right of way. A road. If he's in the parking lot, this law doesn't apply.

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“ PUBLIC WAY
Page 2 2009 Edition
II. FULL INSTRUCTION
The Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant operated a motor vehicle in one of three places: on a public way, or in a place to which the public has a right of access, or in a place to which members of the public have access as invitees or licensees.
You will note that the statute treats these three types of places as alternatives. If any one of the alternatives is proved, then this element of the offense is satisfied. Let me discuss the three alternatives one at a time.
Our law defines a public “way” as: “any public highway,
[or a] private way [that is] laid out under authority of [a] statute,
[or a] way dedicated to public use,
or [a] way [that is] under [the] control
of park commissioners or [a] body having [similar] powers.”
G.L. c. 90, § 1.
Interstate and state highways, as well as municipal streets and roads, would all be included in this definition. In determining whether a road is a

Page 3 Instruction 3.280 2009 Edition PUBLIC WAY
public way, you may consider whether it has some of the usual indications of a public way — for example, whether it is paved, whether it has street lights, street signs, traffic signals, curbing and fire hydrants, whether there are abutting houses or businesses, whether it has any crossroads intersecting it, whether it is publicly maintained, and whether there is an absence of signs prohibiting public access.
Commonwealth v. Charland, 338 Mass. 742, 744, 157 N.E.2d 538, 539 (1959) (signs, signals, curbing, crossroads); Commonwealth v. Mara, 257 Mass. 198, 208-210, 153 N.E. 793, 795 (1926) (street lights, paving, curbing, houses, crossroads, traffic); Danforth v. Durell, 8 Allen 242, 244 (1864) (paved roads, no sign that anyone excluded); Commonwealth v. Muise, 28 Mass. App. Ct. 964, 551 N.E.2d 1224 (1990) (usual indicia of public way include paved roads, absence of signs prohibiting access, street lights, curbing, abutting houses or businesses, crossroads, traffic, signs, signals, lighting and hydrants; unnamed, paved private way into trailer park with abutting residential trailers, and no signs prohibiting access, was public way); Commonwealth v. Colby, 23 Mass. App. Ct. 1008, 1010, 505 N.E.2d 218, 219-220 (1987) (paved road, lighting, hydrants); Commonwealth v. Hazelton, 11 Mass. App. Ct. 899, 900, 413 N.E.2d 1144, 1145 (1980) (regularly patrolled by police, “no parking” signs, municipally paved and plowed; photo of way admissible).
The second alternative under the statute is a place that is not a “way,” but where the general public still has a right of access by motor vehicle. This might include, for example, a parking lot that is adjacent to city hall, or the parking area of a public park.
The third alternative is a place to which members of the public have access as invitees or licensees. The difference between invitees and licensees is not important here. Both are persons who are lawfully in a

Instruction 3.280 Page 4 PUBLIC WAY 2009 Edition
place at the invitation of the owner, or at least with the owner’s tolerance. Some examples of locations where the public has access as invitees or licensees include shopping centers, roadside fuel stops, parking lots, and restaurant parking lots.”

https://www.mass.gov/doc/3280-public-way-gl-c-90-s-1/download

According to this, restaurant parking lots do fall under the law.

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