Why does nobody hitch any more?

[Boris Bajic]

As a youngster, I hitch-hiked all over the place. I swore that when I got a car I'd never pass a hitcher.

I had some great lifts and a couple of scrapes that only became amusing with the passage of time.

For years I picked up almost everyone I had room for (not quite everyone).

When the children were younger, they quite expected to hop in the back to make room for an unexpected passenger. Now, in these days of economic crisis and huge fuel costs.... I see no hitchers. None.

My wife never takes a hitcher as she feels vulnerable, which is quite understandable. But I used to be able to do London - Haverfordwest or Boulogne - Strasbourg almost as fast as public transport.

What has happened? Are we all too scared to hitch or has society decided that all hitchers are axe-murderers?

I haven't needed to hitch for 30 years and I quite like the convenience of a car, but where are all the new generation? Are they all doing some sort of virtual hitching on their Nintendo Wii?

I see the guys on junctions with trade plates, but that's different.

Is society becoming horrid and selfish?

 

[tyred]

In more recent times, any time I've tried, nobody will stop for me, everyone is in too much of a hurry

Also, there is the litigation side as I know someone who had a hitching claim of their insurance for probably non-existent injuries following a minor accident.

 

[tyred]

It's always interesting to note that when hitch-hiking, it won't be the guy in the new Merc that stops to offer a lift, it will be the guy in the rusty Escort (In my experience). Do rich people think they're too important?

 

[Boris Bajic]

Back in 1980 I got a ride from near Kehl to Basel in an brand new 450 SEL 6.9, which was the spiffiest German car of its day.

I was young and it was like a spaceship to me.

But yes... most of my rides came from 2CVs, R4s, R5s, R6s, Simcas, 204s and 304s. Those cars are all in old money, but they do represent a fairly impecunious and non-flamboyant side of society.

I do still remember some gorgeous cars that picked me up, but they were few. An Alfa GTV in about 1982 was memorable and was driven like an Alfa.

As a driver (should I admit this?) I once had a hitcher heading north out of London. He was going north to Scotland to sign on. Fair enough... But then he said he was signing on in London and Glasgow under two identities. I was shocked. I pulled off the M1 at a nowhere junction near Newport Pagnall and asked him to check my rear lights as it was getting dark. As soon as he was behind the van I dropped his bag from the door and drove off. It was late evening and we were on a quiet A-Road. Part of me hopes he was there for weeks.

That was the only time I did that and I feel completely relaxed about it.

 

[tyred]

Certainly no SEL Mercs for me. The best I ever managed was a Toyota Camry, a fine but bland car.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Yep, as a lad used to hitch all over and picked hitchers up as soon as I started driving. There was a major junction we'd start from where you'd have to join an almost formal queue and wait your turn. I think the longest single lift I got was Southampton to Plymouth.
The only problem I ever had was one time when bunking off school and hitching to London when a Jag stopped. Great! I thought. It was our deputy head.

 

[Maz]

I've never hitch-hiked here, but I did hitch a lift in America once - from Williamsburg, Virginia to Yorktown - the last standing place of the Brits in the war of independence...I had a Union Jack emblazoned on my rucksack and I held a card saying "Yorktown, Please!". As it was only 12 miles, I was prepared to walk it, but it took about a minute before a car stopped for me - I didn't think anyone would stop- very congenial chap - turned out he'd spent some time stationed in the UK as part of his air force career.

 

[asterix]

In the 1980's I hitched quite often between Manchester and East Anglia. Best lift was a lorry carrying scrap aluminium to Felixstowe, I never realised how comfortable those cab seats are! It was also interesting to see the crazy driving going on below.

The last hitchhikers I've picked up were a couple of students doing a charity hitch from Cardiff to Amsterdam in 2010. I took them from Dartford Services to Dover and understood they were well in the lead by the time I dropped them off (not my driving speed, the van was loaded and rarely gets to 70 anyway)

 

[MontyVeda]

I used to hitch all over the UK but then, at some point in the early nineties, it got much harder... all the blue motorway signs moved from the top end of a slip roads to the bottom end which meant no legal pedestrian access to the motorway slip road.

I used to regularly hitch from Lancaster to Rossendale. Got picked up by a cyclist (in his car) one afternoon who said "why don't you cycle it? 45 miles would take about 3 hours." At the time I didn't cycle more than 4 or 5 miles, but this bloke got me thinking... sometimes it's taken far more than 3 hours to hitch that distance. So I did and I've never looked back.

 

[MacB]

Years ago when I was younger and even more foolish I worked a double identity so that I could sign on while living and working in London and also claim benefits in Scotland as well. To further save money I used to hitch back up to Glasgow to sign on. Being young, brash, and rather good looking, I was a bit of a braggart and foolishly let slip about my dastardly misdeeds to a guy that had responded to my thumb.

Before I realised what was going on we'd pulled off the motorway to a secluded spot and I was being given a choice. Share my unfeasibly good looks, and rocking bod, with this depraved individual or he'd be reporting me to the authorities. The language was flowery but failed to mask the underlying stench of corruption and the desperation oozed from his pores. But, young, foolish or brash, I've never been scared of creatures of the night. He got dumped out of his car and I drove off leaving him whimpering in the night. Made it all the way to Glasgow and left the car outside the benefit office.

I've occasionally wondered if he was ever reunited with his car and what sort of tale he told, if any.

 

[Archie_tect]

Longest lift I've given was in 1979, returning from Dundee to Leeds overnight in the fog I nearly knocked a hitch-hiker down while he was walking along the A1 east of Dunbar. I stopped and offered him a lift. Turns out he was a Dutch student trying to get from Edinburgh to Hull to catch the ferry later that evening. Had a really good chat and by the time we got to Leeds I took him to my mum's for beakfast and then dropped him at the nearest junction to the M62 with all day to get to Hull.... hope he made it.

Worst hitch was from a clearly drunk bloke driving a bashed up Astra at 2am after Mrs A_T and I had missed the last connecting train from Wakefield back to Leeds again in the early 80's. We got out of the car at the first set if red traffic lights, thanked him and walked!

I suspect most people are too scared when alone to pick up hikers now- I'd not do it anymore in case they caused any hassle.

 

[snorri]

I haven't needed to hitch for 30 years and I quite like the convenience of a car, but where are all the new generation?
Is society becoming horrid and selfish?

When did you last walk on the road for more than a mile or two?
It's the environment for hitching that has become horrid with increased volumes of motor traffic moving much faster on all categories of roads.
There was a day when drivers at least pulled over towards the centre of the road to pass hitch hikers, now many expect the hitcher to leap on to the roadside verge.

 

[compo]

I was bought up in care and later in an Approved School. I was a persistant absconder and it was always my ambition to get to John o'Groats by hitch hiking. The school was in Wiltshire and I did make JOG several times. It reached a point where the police in the area knew me. If I was pulled in Wick I always felt cheated, so close but so far! They would bang me up in the cells for a few days until an escort arrived from Wiltshire to take me back to the school. I remember once they put me in a police car and took me up to JOG just to give me a break from the cells. Decent coppers. Hitch hiking in those days was good. No, or very few motorways, and life was slower. The last time I hitch-hiked was about 6 years ago. I was discharged late at night from the hospital in Bury St Edmunds and had to get back to Sudbury. There were no buses and I couldn't afford a taxi so I stuck my thumb out. A lot of locals know there is no public transport that time of night and are more inclined to offer lifts.

 

[asterix]

When did you last walk on the road for more than a mile or two?
It's the environment for hitching that has become horrid with increased volumes of motor traffic moving much faster on all categories of roads.
There was a day when drivers at least pulled over towards the centre of the road to pass hitch hikers, now many expect the hitcher to leap on to the roadside verge.

On the west coast of Scotland where we used to sail (and walk) a lot, the passing locals tended to offer us a lift, thumb or no thumb.

Here in rural France, walkers are not uncommon complete with proper gear and clearly doing long distance. In 2010 in late April near Nontron in the Dordogne, I passed a pair who were using a donkey to carry their gear. Later in June, on top of a col near Andorra I met the same unmistakable couple with their donkey. It was wet, windy and cold, and us cyclists looked as if we'd rather be elsewhere, but they looked quite at home.

 

[jugglingphil]

It's true there are very few hitch-hikers these days. I imagine the constant growth on the motorway network and the media constantly telling us how unsafe everything is has made it harder to get around.
It's been many years (20 ish) since I last hitched, and I doubt I've quite managed to give as many lifts as I've received.
France and Germany very good for lifts, Italy useless (maybe I don't look Italian enough). Had a van emergency stop on A-road outside of Cambridge to pick me and a mate up at 1am, which was pretty amazing, really thought I'd be sleeping in a ditch that night!