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No, Hitchhiking is not always safe. You put your life in the hands of total strangers.
On the other hand, you can meet people you would never have met any other way.
I still pick up hitchhikers, and have never regretted it.
I would not be afraid to take a trip on the thumb, again, either.
Problem is I have to take the wife, and our dog wherever I go, and and they won't travel that way.
Her idea of roughing it is a hotel without room service.
And there seems to be a lot of whackos out there today.
Not at all. When I hitched in the 50's, there were a lot more whackos then than there are now. With no airbags or seatbelts or MADD, and roads were all 2-lane with oncoming traffic. Sure, I got picked up by a few nutcases, but generally I got picked up very quickly by good responsible people, before one of the nutcases came along.
Where on earth did the idea ever come from that there are so many more whackos now than there ever were before? When I was in school, the town was full of whackos, and us kids knew who they all were and just teased and made fun of them. None of them got any psychiatric treatment, they just ran loose.
Crime rates have fallen dramatically. I'd gladly pick up hitchhikers in an area that wasn't high crime. I see no logical reason not to. A lot of people have been taught "stranger danger", just another moral panic. Crime's as low as it was in the 1950s, so why not pick up hitchhikers like it was the 1950s again. Heck, I wouldn't remind a return to most of the '50s morals.
I've hitchhiked at college in 2012, and I've NEVER run into any problems.
Location: Kowaniec, Nowy Targ, Podhale. 666 m n.p.m.
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I pick up hitchhikers all the time, and I actually like to pick up hitchhikers as I drive quite often the 1200 kilometre (750 miles) of highway between Kraków and Limburg Province, Netherlands. That is a very boring, eight-hour drive, and then it's great to have company.
The only thing I've ran in to is that hitchhikers on the NL/DE border traveling eastbound happen to be hippies coming back from coffee shops in NL which are trying to carry controlled substances back into Germany.
Basically, the first thing I ask when I stop for a hitchhiker near the NL/DE border is whether they have weed. They usually say "no" - to which I explain that I don't mind it, I just think I have the right as driver to know what my passengers are carrying in my car, and if I know that they might be carrying something not particularly legal to take across the border I can take alternative routes across that border (I've lived in that region for years - I know every single spot where the BGS/KMAR are controlling and where they most of the time don't) It's saves them getting a ticket for possession, and it saves me the hassle of dealing with the BGS/KMAR for an hour or so.
Having said that, I do think that hitchhiking is still far more common in Europe than in the USA. And because of this, in Europe you're far more likely to be picked up by a regular "middle-class" person than in the USA. When I was younger I've hitched my way all over the continent here from Kiruna in the north, to Catania in the south, to Rzeszów in the east to Kinlochbervie in the west.
Serial killers love 2 kinds of people: Hitchhikers and Prostitutes.
And there are, at this moment, probably about three actual serial killers on the loose and active in the USA. Your chances are about a thousand times greater of being struck by lightning on the side of the road, or brained by an auto part falling off a passing car.
Every year, 18,000 Americans die from accidents inside their own home. I doubt of even one tenth that many people have been killed by serial killers in the entire history of the United States.
It must be a very strange life, to wake up in the morning hoping you can make it through another day without being murdered by a serial killer.
And there are, at this moment, probably about three actual serial killers on the loose and active in the USA. Your chances are about a thousand times greater of being struck by lightning on the side of the road, or brained by an auto part falling off a passing car.
Every year, 18,000 Americans die from accidents inside their own home. I doubt of even one tenth that many people have been killed by serial killers in the entire history of the United States.
It must be a very strange life, to wake up in the morning hoping you can make it through another day without being murdered by a serial killer.
According to a book called, "Mind Hunter" written by former FBI agent John Douglas who was in the Elite Serial Crime Unit, “A very conservative estimate is that there are between 35-50 active serial killers in the United States” at any given time. That may seem like a high number but the reality is that in a country of over 300 million people, the odds of ever actually running into one are so low that it's almost not worth mentioning. The odds of ever becoming a statistic of one are even lower.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wawa1992
Crime rates have fallen dramatically. I'd gladly pick up hitchhikers in an area that wasn't high crime. I see no logical reason not to. A lot of people have been taught "stranger danger", just another moral panic. Crime's as low as it was in the 1950s, so why not pick up hitchhikers like it was the 1950s again. Heck, I wouldn't remind a return to most of the '50s morals.
I've hitchhiked at college in 2012, and I've NEVER run into any problems.
It is strange that so many people believe that the US is so violent today compard to other eras. The idea is out there because everything is plastered across the WWW and television in today's world. People hear so many horror stories that they believe that the US is worse now than it ever was.
Like you said, the US violent crime rate has dropped to historic lows. It has been on a steady decline for close to two decades. Parts of the '70s, the '80s and early/mid '90s were much more violent eras in the US than it is now. Today's US is all about knowing what areas to avoid and what areas are fine for you to be in. There are very violent and dangerous areas and those are the places where much of the crime comes from.
I've picked up a few hitchhikers and have never had any problems. For the most part I would imagine that most people giving the ride and the person thumbing it would be equally as leery. I go by gut feeling. If I don't like the way they look or if they send off warning signs, I'll ignore them.
I want to say to all its not scary at all your not going to get killed its the new age that we live in that scares people i call it google sickness lol me and my gf are hitching all around right now and never once have we had a problem if you have a iffy feeling about gettin into the car tell them ur not going that way and wait some more many of old couples have picked us up and there amazing wanting to feed us ask us to stay very fun and free we have no money at all but make it like movie stars where ever we are just by the amazing people in the usa so if your scared dont be no reason for it and if someone does ever try anything to inflict us just pull out whatever you have and **** them up its not hard only thing i had to do was kick some bums ass for messing around where we were sleeping simple, advise would be travel with someone makes it more fun and see everything you can thanks bye bye
guess when i run into one i will send him to you lol
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