Any ex-hitchhikers here?

[slowmotion]

Actually, the early marketing of mobile phones has an awful lot to answer for. The manufacturers peddled the myth that there were hoards of homicidal maniacs preying on lone strangers in cars who could only be saved by buying a phone. The "strangers by the roadside" bollocks did for hitching.

 

[lazyfatgit]

It's been a long time since I've hitched a ride and not something I did often.

There's been lots of occasions in winter where I've been offered a lift at a bus stop. Particularly if it was a home game in poor weather. Even had a lift from away fans who wanted directions to the ground.

Picked up a few here now and again.

 

[gbb]

I can't agree. I don't think the risk to drivers or hitchers is any greater than it was forty years ago. All that's changed is lurid reporting of the nastiness of modern life by the Press, and our willingness to be gulled by it.

I'm a bit miffed that I can't repay some of the generosity of strangers that I enjoyed when I was younger. Hitchers have disappeared.

Probably because you don't see hitchhikers any more, it's a rarity to actually give a lift anyone. I will...or would, but always tried to gauge the person before stopping. I gave a fella a lift last year...he wasn't even thumbing it...it had just started raining, he was walking o a straight strech of road, miles away from anywhere.
Trade players will always get a lift from me...ill even drive a mile or so our of my way to put them down on the A1...their usual immediate destination.

 

[Cp40Carl]

I stopped hitch hiking following a dubious encounter with a Vogon construction fleet. Still kept my towel though, you just never know...

 

[slowmotion]

I got a lift from Raxaul on the Indian border to Kathmandu on a truck like this one. It was driven at speed by a Sikh guy with a magnificent turban and moustache. We perched on top of his cargo....several thousand bottles of Coke in crates. It was like riding on a bed of blunt nails for seven hours. Character-building.

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 4925381, member: 9609"]

There's another thought, Tramps (as in the hairy type that used to walk the roads) , I haven't seen one for years do they still exist ?[/QUOTE]

That's an interesting question. I think they do.

 

[Milkfloat]

I used to hitch quite a bit as a student, but nothing as international as most of you. My favourite lift was in the back of really old stripped out ambulance with a lot of ageing hippies. We were on our way back from a music festival and they picked me up right outside of Stratford upon Avon, I spent a fair few hours absolutely stoned zig-zagging down towards London on back roads as the van could not go over 30 mph. Then a spent a couple of hours by the M25 too stoned to get another lift. In the end I got very lucky and got picked up by a coach driver going within 5 miles of my destination. He wanted to chat, but I fell asleep within seconds.

I have not seen anyone hitching for years now, I used to pick up quite a few people, luckily nobody 'story' worthy.

 

[Drago]

Actually, the early marketing of mobile phones has an awful lot to answer for. The manufacturers peddled the myth that there were hoards of homicidal maniacs preying on lone strangers in cars who could only be saved by buying a phone. The "strangers by the roadside" bollocks did for hitching.

Well observed. T'is reckoned that a mobile phone makes you more likely to be a victim of crime in the first place.

As a radio buff I recall a potable CB sold in the 80's for much the same reason. The ads featured a lone female in distress with a broken down car gratefully fondling the mic of her Realistic emergency CB. For reasons not fully understood they neglected to mention that a lone female in such circumstances would be doing nothing more than broadcasting her location and plight to every nutter within a 20 mile radius.

 

[swee'pea99]

Actually, the early marketing of mobile phones has an awful lot to answer for. The manufacturers peddled the myth that there were hoards of homicidal maniacs preying on lone strangers in cars who could only be saved by buying a phone. The "strangers by the roadside" bollocks did for hitching.

That and general red top woe-is-us hell-in-a-handcart bollocks are doubtless factors, but I suspect that overwhelmingly the most significant impact has been simply much wider car ownership. When I was 18, none of my friends had cars; I'd guess that today most 18 year olds either drive or have a friend who does. Why hitch when you can ride in comfort and at your own convenience?

 

[Pale Rider]

I can't agree. I don't think the risk to drivers or hitchers is any greater than it was forty years ago. All that's changed is lurid reporting of the nastiness of modern life by the Press, and our willingness to be gulled by it.

I'm a bit miffed that I can't repay some of the generosity of strangers that I enjoyed when I was younger. Hitchers have disappeared.

One of the things that's changed is an exponential increase in violent crime.

Officialdom in all its guises will try to talk that down, and probably for the best of motives, but it remains so.

Press reporting, in terms of volume if not the tone of reports, reflects that increase.

 

[welsh dragon]

I have never been a hitch hiker, and never picked up a hitch hiker either. No way would i do that.

 

[Cubist]

I used to travel all round Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the late 70s- early 80s. Apart from the cost benefit, it does wonders for your language skills. Drivers were perfectly happy to pick you up, and I only ever had one close call with a fat bloke in a big Merc in Frankfurt who wanted to discuss corporal punishment with me for some obscure reason. I worked on a few volunteer work camps, and had a good few contacts to go and visit by the time I had done my A levels, so that summer set off and spent seven weeks visiting all of my friends.

BFG drivers were always a good bet for getting home. You just needed to get to a BP garage near the border and ask the squaddies for lifts home. Worked every time.

Record lift was Pisa to Coventry in one ride. Took several days as he had to change loads in Turin, and suffered an air line failure, so was glad of the help to get it changed.

 

[Pale Rider]

Exponential increase in violent crime? Really?

There was a small increase in recorded violent crime in 2016 but overall there has been a downward trend over the last decade.

Your post kind of proves @slowmotion's point...

Fine, except we are trying to compare with the 1970s.

While there was no golden age of peace and tranquility, violence, particularly low-level assaults, have increased hugely from 30 or 40 years ago.

Much of it is swept under the carpet by either being not reported, or by being dealt with by one of a number of out of court disposals.

 

[the stupid one]

I hitched a lot as a student between about '85 and '88. Full-suspension seats in lorries were wonderful, a Range Rover was also very nice, even the wheel arch in the back of a transit van could be lovely after a couple of hours in pouring rain (Tamworth rock festival back to Stoke!). I once must have looked like the archetypal hitching nutter when I started hammering on the window of a car that had just dropped me off, but only because my baggy jumper was caught in the door.

And, as above, I never see hitchers anymore, and the only time we've stopped for one was in rural Ireland.

 

[Drago]

Do trade plate hitchers still exist?