Just seen a hitch hiker vanished species'??

[justasking111]

We've seen a hitch hiker first for many a year. What happened to them is n Wales an oddity, are they flourishing elsewhere?

I have never seen any hitch hikers

@Yutes

I have never seen any hitch hikers

Whereabouts are you

No, because people recognise how unsafe it is. We see a few on the A1, taking car trade plates to collect a car and hitch hiking to allow them to pocket the train fare, but very few.

Haven't seen one in years! Wonder how long the ones you saw had to wait.

Haven't seen one in years either, certainly not since COVID. I guess apps like BlaBlaCar have contributed to the reduction? (And safety aspect, of course).

My sister hitched about 15y ago on a hiking trip she was doing solo.

She had a scary moment with a creepy male driver though.

She is the only person I know to have done this in the last couple of decades tbh!

@PineappleWilson

No, because people recognise how unsafe it is. We see a few on the A1, taking car trade plates to collect a car and hitch hiking to allow them to pocket the train fare, but very few.

How unsafe is it though??

As students many of us hitchhiked everywhere, through the UK Europe.

Oh wow, I'd forgotten all about hitch-hiking as a thing. There used to be lots on the main road out of towns, and in motorway service stations. Before vehicles had radios it was entertainment and company for the drivers.

We used to see them after the Glastonbury festival (we live about 20 miles up the road), but none recently.

I live in France and there are still a few, mostly young people on holiday or much older people who can no longer drive. This is in a rural area, I don’t think it happens in cities. I don’t like picking them up although exH often does.

I see them on the A1 frequently (as in at the roundabout to join the A1, not actually on it!).

When I was at University (2004-08) there was an annual hitchhiking competition... how far you could get in 72hrs on £50.

DH tells me he used to hitchhike when he was about 10. Only on one occasion did the driver turn out to be creepy. He did have a childhood consisting of benign neglect.

I see them often on the M6 junction I live near. NW

Saw a young female hitchhiker a couple of weeks ago. Stood by the exit road of a service station with a cardboard sign saying 'London'. Had to explain to DC what she was doing. They were baffled!

I live near to several car showrooms so very occasionally I'll pass someone hitching who's presumably just deliverered a new car to one of them

Funnily enough saw one a few days ago, and thought how long it had been since I’d seen one!

Seems a shame to me. Used to see it 20 years ago, but now can't even remember the last time I saw one.

I think most people drive these days and also have some way of accessing a car even if they don't personally own one, just because there are so many more cars around than there were previously.

I used to hitch hike all the time. It was a great way to get around and a nice little delve into symbiosis. I can still remember some of the conversations I had with people. I don't know why, maybe because it's a situation where you have to pay attention.

I’m in north wales too and I see them occasionally!

We've just seen one too - on the A35 and had the same conversation! I haven't seen a hitch hiker for years.

I’ve only hitchhiked twice.

I don’t think I’ve seen one in about 5 years (very rural).

I saw a hitchhiker in Glencoe a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't having much luck and was getting very irate, effing and blinding at the cars that drove past. We'd seen him a few days earlier hiking stark naked along the side of Loch Lomond, so not sure he was entirely compos mentis, though...

Back when we went to the office - our office is by a busy m-way junction, and you'd sometimes see them by the sliproads down to the motorway with a sign for whichever town along the motorway, and often trade plates for a car, so I assume they were mostly going to collect cars, so couldn't drive there. Though as the motorway is roughly parallel to the railway, you'd think that would be easier than hitching, apart from the last bit of the journey, and I assume car sales people aren't completely impoverished and could claim back a rail ticket, and wouldn't their employer have some duty of care?

I picked a guy up on the way home once, about 5 miles out of town at a bus stop - he'd just missed the last one. I don't often see them, though, and wouldn't often. I'm not sure why I did that day.

I used to hitch hike and pick up hitch hikers back in the 70s. Different times then though.

Oh this brings up a lot of memories. Haven’t seen anyone hitching for a very long time. Grew up with this being common and my parents stopped a lot for hitchers all over Europe.
Last I’ve seen (some years ago) have been young couples backpacking in Greece/Italy/Spain.