[Ebbc-Talk] attempted pannier theft on Webster St yesterday

Hi fellow EBBCers,

A bit of a public service announcement: Yesterday around 2:30pm I was
biking south on Webster St in Oakland when someone tried to steal the
pannier off my bike near the intersection with 34th.  My downstairs
neighbor had her pannier stolen as she was biking a few months ago at 52nd
and Shafter.  When I shared that with people back in March, others said
they'd heard of bikers being targeted along this route from Uptown to
Rockridge.

The car (a late 90s teal Honda Accord with Arizona plates) passed me near
38th and turned right there; they were driving pretty fast and somewhat
erratically.  They rejoined Webster at MacArthur, passed me again and
stopped at the top of the hill at Webster and 34th to let out the passenger
then pulled around the corner.  As I approached that intersection, he
walked out into the street toward the back of my bike (I was going slower
owing to high gearing and the hill) and reached out to grab the handles of
my pannier.  I had turned around to watch him, saw this, yelled for him to
get the %&#$ away from my bag, and watched him keep walking as I got out of
there.

I wonder if they particularly target people whose panniers have visible,
grab-able handles.  Maybe they have learned that these types of panniers
often don't have an attachment mechanism other than hooks that loop over a
rack and are thus easily taken.  I will definitely be securing mine with
the velcro straps all the time now, something I usually only do at night.

This was a good reminder to be vigilant out there and always remain aware
of your surroundings, especially on this bike route.

Jess

--
Jessica Zdeb
Master of City Planning 2012
UC Berkeley
www.linkedin.com/in/jesszdeb
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