The act of hitchhiking has nearly disappeared in America. You can drive from Los Angeles to New York without seeing a single person "thumbing a ride" on the side of the road. I ask the question, why is that?
Before I ask any questions, I'd like to share my personal experiences.
In 2006 I started a social experiment. I wanted to see if hitchhiking was a lost art, or if it was still alive in the world. To start, I decided to hitchhike to class every morning. I lived 1.5 miles from campus and it saved me money if I didn't pay for parking. Biking was an option, but my bike was impounded by the city after parking illegally in front of a fraternity, so every morning I would start the walk to school, and usually within 5 minutes, I would be picked up by someone heading the same way (I always had my thumb in the air). On various occasions, nobody would pick me up, and I would find myself on campus after walking the whole distance (only 20 minutes).
I decided to take this experiment outside of Nebraska, so in 2009 I hitch-hiked in Mexico, in 2010 I picked up a ride in Washington DC, and in 2011 in Michigan. The story across North America is consistent: in 5-20 minutes someone will always pick you up.
The question is this: is it safe?
There must be horror stories. I invite anyone to share a personal experience of either themselves or someone they know that was personally injured or wronged in this practice, but I would venture to guess that most of the prejudice against hitchhiking stems from fear and speculation. In my experience (and reason would tend to agree), the people driving by you are a subset of the population. They are just going from A to B, and they are just as likely to be looking for a fight as you are. This always gives me a sense of security. The "bad-guys" who would be looking for a chance to harm me are probably not driving down the road thinking, "Gee, I wish a hitchhiker would present himself so that I could steal all his money."
That being said, the question can be turned around. Is it safe to pick up hitch-hikers?
Again, my experiences tell me that it is safe, but in this arena, i would understand a slight hesitancy. The person thumbing the ride is doing the act pre-meditated. This means that if they had the motive for evil, they would be able to set the stage appropriately and disguise it in innocence. For that reason, I understand a person who passes by me (as I'm hitch-hiking) without stopping.
I could elaborate on this subject for hours as I find it both fascinating and highly revealing of today's culture and society. However, I am very interested to hear what others think. If you have a different experience, or if you want to challenge any of my comments, I fully encourage it. Leave a comment if you want to join in on the discussion.
Until next time, happy trails.
2 comments:
I wish I had hitchhiked more than I have. But most recently I stuck out the ol' thumb after getting back on the road after a long day of hiking unmarked trails here in Laos. I was tired so why not? Not only did we (there were 4 of us) get a ride into town but we were invited to ride the 3 hours back to Vientiane as well. That meant we spent the rest of the day with these people. Now, months later, I still hang out with a couple people I met that day and will probably be attending one or two of their weddings in the coming year.
I have two experiences: the first was in Washington DC and the second was in Lincoln. Firstly: I was driving to work and a guy flagged me down. He couldn't see me well because of the glare off the windshield so he initially thought I was a man. Once he saw I was a woman he offered to let me keep going with no hard feelings, but I took him anyway down the road to the shop where his car was being fixed. The fact that he was willing to wait for a man to come along told me that we was more interested in my welfare than his. The second story involves a drunk man who thought I was a taxi. He stumbled into the street and as I slowed to pass him he opened my back door and sat down in a gymnastic feat that only the very inebriated can pull off. He asked me to take him to his hotel and since it was only a few blocks away I agreed. I dropped him off and as he left he kissed my hand and gave me 20 bucks. Not bad for a night's work.
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