Risk Lives in the Seams
Ask where a carjacking happens and people picture the wrong neighborhood. The data says otherwise: the single most common location is at or near the victim's own home. The driveway. Because risk doesn't live in places, it concentrates in the seams between them: getting in, getting out, arriving, checking in. Hands full, eyes down, shell open. That's the moment a planner waits for.
So the rule travels with you: slow down at the seams. The pause is the protection.
The Vehicle
The Arrival
The Rideshare
The Three Seams
The vehicle
Before you get out of a car (or into one), stop for two seconds and look. Mirrors, both sides, then commit. The most predictable moment of your day deserves your two most deliberate seconds.
The arrival
The State Department's warning is blunt: you're most at risk when you first arrive somewhere new. Arrive head up, navigate before you step out. And in a hotel, check the room, then use every lock on the door.
The rideshare
Match the plate, the car, and the driver's photo before you enter. Then ask the open question: "who are you here to pick up?" Never offer your name first; a closed question can be answered with a yes.
You can't guard every minute, and you don't have to. Spend the attention where risk concentrates (at the seams) and relax on the road between them.