Brands like "Crimsafe" (sp) advertise frequently on stations like 4KQ. I rarely hear adverts for similar products in the USA. I wouldn't think that Australia has that much more crime than America...

Going by recent Nielsen ratings, the key audience age demographic for 4KQ is 55+, so it's not unusual for companies advertising security products to aim at that demographic, especially those who live alone.

The ads that I've seen for Crimsafe feature retired champion production car racing driver Dick Johnson, who is considered a national sporting hero, especially so in his home state of Queensland.

And I guess the advertising is paying off, otherwise you wouldn't be hearing it as often.

As for statistics comparing Australia to America:

http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Australia/United-States/Crime.

Sydney would rank highly amongst the cities of the world for drive-by shootings. Since the 1990s this has become pretty much the most convenient way to terrorise someone.

Alcohol-fuelled violence would also be high, I imagine, due to Australia's reputation as a nation of drinkers. Every time I see the news there is a report of a footpath being wiped with someone's face. Although, as a once power drinker, I have never seen the need to use inebriation as an excuse for hitting someone. I've always managed to get home safely without either hitting someone or being hit.

Crimsafe is the major competitor to the more widely-used Duralco Amplimesh security doors.

Sydney would rank highly amongst the cities of the world for drive-by shootings. Since the 1990s this has become pretty much the most convenient way to terrorise someone.

Drive-by shootings in Sydney seem, mainly, to be associated with turf wars and other feuds between drug syndicates, notably those run by motorcycle gangs.

Then there's home invasions, a terrorising technique apparently imported here from various Asian countries. Grist to the security door and shutter industry's mill.

Drive-by shootings in Sydney seem, mainly, to be associated with turf wars and other feuds between drug syndicates, notably those run by motorcycle gangs.

That is usually the case.

In the years after I left school a student who attended the school I went to was bumped off after a deal to buy or sell guns went wrong. In the coroner's report it was brought up that drug dealing and burglaries were also being carried out. When people make a habit of not mixing with the wrong crowd I guess they tend to live a bit longer.

Some people think the Government should do more to stop the gang/turf wars but I think they should just let them have it out with each other and then send the last man standing to the gallows. Assuming, and hoping, that no innocent bystanders are affected it will save the taxpayer a bundle on the construction of new gaols and save the police a bit of paperwork too.

I think they should just let them have it out with each other and then send the last man standing to the gallows

Apart from there being no gallows anymore, the problem with that approach is that, especially where the illicit drug trade is concerned, as soon as one head is cut off another one appears. Just look at the various fiefdoms over the years in and around Kings Cross. All of the old hands are either dead or in gaol, but they were replaced immediately with the next generation.

If the NSW government was as tough on crime as O'Farrell likes to pretend it is, we'd already have consorting laws to drive organised crime out of this state.

We in America have some bad news cities. Newark NJ seems to have a research and development group that creates new types of crimes. Carjacking is one crime they invented in Newark NJ. The only safe part of town is at the airport, past TSA security screenings.

In the movie "Casablanca" Rick was telling a German officer that there are certain parts of New York City they should not try to invade...

Does that mean my life was in danger when I caught the train from Penn Station to the Newark Airport Skytrain?

One American product I have always had at hand is a six cell Maglite torch. It's illegal to have a baton unless you are a copper or security guard but a torch the same size is not classed as a prohibited weapon but can be swung just as hard when being carjacked, which does happen here in Sydney - at times. Sometimes the carjackers take more than one car, particularly when being pursued by police. Sydney's streets are too narrow for most police chases to be evaded so sometimes the villains have to resort to such measures.

Update: This thread just got me watching police chases in Sydney, London and San Francisco. It is hard to imagine that someone would want to be so stupid.

Here are a few videos from chases in Sydney. None of these are carjackings but the culprits involved are definitely two bob short of a quid:-

1. Through Bankstown in Sydney's south west, a bloke on a drug-induced chase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYLDt99w4gA

2. Om the wrong side of the road in Railway Square and Haymarket, just south of the Sydney CBD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnH8CJLBi4I.

3. Over the border in Brisbane, this is not how to drive a Porsche.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZI2ia2QVOM.

4. Back in Sydney, from an outer-urban backyard to suburbia via the M4 - this bloke is an absolute nutter. On this stretch of road the speed limit is 110km/h (65 miles per hour). It gives you an idea of how fast the bike was going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyzBdK9hQvo.

"..stations like 4KQ.."

In early '70s, 4KQ had "latest" automation machine from US: An impressive wall mounted carrousel machine with Capitol-format audio cartridges for commercials. This was in their showcase studios with views of Brisbane River.

At about the same time RCA equipped TVQ-0 television had a TCR-100 automatic video cartridge machine (before Ampex could make one?)