Hitchhiking

[MontyVeda]

As a teenager I realised that owning a car wasn't necessary, not because I had a push bike, but because I could walk out of town, hold out my thumb and travel all over the country for free.

I used to hitch pretty much everywhere, but these days I dont. I fact it was whilst hitching I got a lift from a keen cyclist and he suggested that I should cycle instead. I figured cycling 45 miles to Rossendale was too far, he said something along the lines of 'poppycock'.

Anyhow... I don't hitch any more, and seemingly neither does anybody else. I remember it getting harder all of a sudden; the motorway signs all moved further down the slip roads, leaving nowhere convenient to legally stand and wait where a vehicle could easily pull in.

The hitcher used to be a common sight on our major arteries, but where are they now?

 

[Monsieur]

I spent many a weekend in the early 80s hitcjing lifts from my army base to home and then back again on sunday!
Haven't thought about it much since then but must admit to not seeing many doing it these days - apart from the guys holding their number plates aloft

 

[srw]

I'm not sure that the percentage of mad axe murderers in the population is any greater now than it ever was (sorry, cba to look for relevant research ).

It's not - if anything it's lower (see threads passim ad nauseam in P&Lite)

 

[Mr Phoebus]

People just don't seem to feel safe in the company of strangers any more,

Probably since 1986 when The Hitcher came out starring Rutger Hauer.

 

[slowmotion]

When I was eighteen I got from Ostend to Albania by thumb before the lifts dried up. The longest ride was from Ostend to Saltzburg of a Ford car parts truck. TMN is spot on. The media seem to promote the myth that the world is an increasingly risky place, and as a result we expose ourselves to fewer and fewer potentially interesting encounters.

 

[srw]

Ahem, that's not research though is it

The endless (and, frankly, often tedious) searching on the Office for National Statistics website certainly is!

 

[Noodley]

Plenty of Eastern Europeans arounf these parts still use it as a means of travelling from their farm location to nearby towns. But other than that hitchers are not a common sight anymore.

Can't remember hitching in this country, but did a fair bit of it in Australia.

 

[MontyVeda]

Probably since 1986 when The Hitcher came out starring Rutger Hauer.

great film... especially when the love interest gets pulled apart by trucks!

 

[Cubist]

AS a 16 year old I hitched all over Germany, and loved it so much I went back twice more. After I finished my A levels I spent six weeks hitching all over Germany, Austrai and Switzerland, visiting contacts I had made in the preceding two years. I remember the total cost of the trip was £135!

Longest ride I ever hitched was from Pisa to Coventry in one go.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I used to hitch all the time, once got a lift from Jonathan Pryce.

 

[accountantpete]

I used to hitch all the time, once got a lift from Jonathan Pryce.

Is that when you "hitch-hiked across the USA"?

 

[gbb]

I frequently hitched about till i was 19, didnt have to after, but often gave lifts up until maybe the early 1990s...then found i was picking up problems so stopped around then.
They included one foreign guy near Northampton who didnt know where he was going ??? dropped him off in Birmingham. Felt guilty, felt like i was just dumping him (which i was).
One guy who sat mumbling in the seat on the M11 from London. Christ !!!
One old guy who sat rocking and refused to say anything...i just said tell me when you want dropping off, it couldnt come soon enough !!!
On the plus side, i seemed to pick up quite a few Austrailians and New Zealanders and an American travelling round Europe. They were always interesting chats.

 

[swee'pea99]

Used to be my basic transport for going any distance. All over the UK, all over NZ and a big chunk of Australia...plus bits & bobs all over Europe. Never had but one bad lift (a vile racist in Queensland and his equally nasty son). Had countless good ones.

As for the (sad) decline, I suspect media scare stories are a factor, but probably the main issue is simply increasing car ownership. Many of the kinds of people who in previous generations would have hitched now drive.

 

[MontyVeda]

I used to hitch all the time, once got a lift from Jonathan Pryce.

i got a lift from a bloke who claimed to be the animator of the Jive Bunny video... I didn't believe him

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Is that when you "hitch-hiked across the USA"?

Hey sugar!