Why is that cowboy hitching a ride? Because most likely his car's been stolen. Last year, 22,441 vehicles were stolen in and around Las Vegas. Which makes it the #1 place in the USA for such cruel activity. Which somehow makes Oscar Goodman proud. At first blush you might think, "Well, they're close enough to Los Angeles. Thieves can blast out to the desert, take their pick from over thirty different Bentleys with spinners and they make the Kessel Run back home before sun up." But you'd be (mostly) wrong. For if you look at the next four cities on the list — Stockton CA, Visalia-Porterville CA, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale AZ and the former, three-time consecutive car-theft champion, Modesto CA — the reason becomes clear. Crystal Meth, and lots of it. We just got off the horn with Bakersfield. They're bummed they didn't make the list, but promise to try harder next year.
Las Vegas tops U.S. cities for car thefts [msnbc.com]
San Francisco Smash 'n' Grabs [Internal]