Is hitch-hiking still a thing?

[Netcurtainnelly]

Inspired by a chat with someone yesterday who hitch hiked years ago and never encountered any problems .
They said they stood by the side of the road holding a rolled newspaper out and had lifts, once in a very posh car which they still remember today.

I said can't imagine it today, it's not safe.
Shame that society has changed though. Someone would help you, in return for a little company and a chat.

Would anyone still do it today or know anyone that does? I never have and wouldn't.
Just curious to know, has people hitching a lift disappeared?

Ooh, this brought back a memory.

I would have hated to parent me 😬thankfully my poor mother had now idea.

On a school trip to France when I was 15, we did canoeing in the sea, we were wearing swimming costumes and life vests. I was rubbish at canoeing and my bff and I capsized several times, maybe even a little on purpose, you know attention seeking, being hilarious and all.

I have now idea how the next bit was allowed to happen but my friend and I dried off in the sun and then hitch hiked back to the youth hostel in our swimming costumes and life vests. 😂True story. If my kids did this I'd have a meltdown.

Adding: This was in the 80s.

I don’t know the answer. I’ve seen people trying to hitchhike but we’ve never stopped.

People definitely do still hitch-hike. We travel quite a bit in places with little or no public transport infrastructure and we do sometimes see backpackers hitching lifts. It's usually people in pairs, but we see the occasional lone bloke.

I'm in Ireland too, 80s and 90s my dad always picked up hitchhikers, we'd squeeze them into our fiesta. I've never done it for fear of the danger. A few years ago a fella was always hitching out my road I passed him one day thought nothing of it ,husband picked him up when he passed . He ended up bringing him as far as he was going , he told me he had the weirdest conversation with him , he wouldn't pick him up again

It wasn’t safe then and it’s still not safe now.

My dad drove for a living (around the creameries) and often picked them up, too, until once, a woman he'd picked up on his way home panicked when he took a different route into the city to the one she'd clearly expected -- it was just another main road and a perfectly ordinary way to go, she just clearly thought he had ill intent and started screaming 'Let me out! Let me out!' and opened the door while they were moving at speed. He of course stopped, let her out and tried to explain but she was having none of it, and he was so unnerved by it that he never picked up a hitcher again.

Though it was probably dying a death by that stage anyway.

I did it in the 00s, but I can't imagine doing it these days. Even then it was only out of necessity that I did it!

Your poor dad

@Lammveg "Ehhh it wasnt any safer back then. Many young women were abducted/raped/killed when hitch hiking."

Exactly. There's never been a safe time to get into a stranger's car, especially as a woman. Back in 1973 (so over 50 years ago) my then best friend and I went youth hostelling around Devon at age 16 and both our parents emphatically told us not to be tempted to hitch hike under any circumstances!

He got a terrible land!

Yes I think it's probably much more common rurally. My sister hitched to work last week because her train was cancelled. But in that context you're much more likely to be picked up by someone who you at least recognise from the village.

It's also pretty normal to offer lifts to people who aren't actually hitching too around here I think. I've done it twice in recent years - once I was driving a few cars behind a bus and saw a bloke with suitcases miss it. (To be honest it was so obvious he was going for the bus I was surprised the driver didn't wait.) Anyway, being in the sort of place I live, it was obvious he was getting the bus to the station in the next village (there's a train every two hours, obvious which one he was aiming for), and the next bus would also be two hours, so I just pulled up and offered him a lift. Similarly passing two women, laden with luggage and running, absolutely no way they were going to make the train they were clearly aiming for, so pulled up and they hopped in.

Completely normal where I am.

I have a loose connection to that case and it still haunts me. I pray to God JoJo and the other girls are found

I last hitchhiked in 1981. In the Lake District. I was 21. I had arranged to meet friends in Grasmere to drive back home to Manchester but missed the bus to Grasmere. Got a lift from a bunch of hippies in a campervan. All fine.

I hitched last year in Cornwall, didn’t have to wait too long for a lift either (and luckily not an axe murderer).

I grew up in a little Cotswold town, in the 70's and 80's and if I didn't hitchhike, I'd have never got anywhere 😊 I 'learnt' it off my older brothers, who did the same thing and showed me how to do it (!) until I became bold and falsely confident to the point where it was just written into my plan for going into Oxford/Banbury, sometimes much longer distances! If i missed the last bus home (which was 6pm!) find a spot, thumb out - but BOY I often reflect on it and shudder at how lucky I was (am now in my early 60's) as I definitely had some scary moments!! One posh car driver who started showing me porn mags (😬) and playing with himself! But I (ridiculously) continued doing it nonetheless! And so did a lot of my girlfriends - alone - eek!!! My parents would turn in their grave if they ever knew and it is unbelievable when I look back on it! Weirdly, when I became a car driver I only ever picked up one hitchhiker (paying it back ??🤔) as I didn't think it wise to potentially my safety!! Bonkers!
Think it’s definitely gone out of favour now - phew

many?
in the UK?
do you have any evidence of that?

Ahh I once hitched with my then BF from Frankfurt to Hamburg and back. To see The Cure in concert (and meet a friend). Our first lift was from an older couple who had just lost the mum of one of them (so odd they picked us up) and they had a car phone! the height of luxury at the time (mid 80s). Thank you @Netcurtainnelly for reminding me of a happy trip.

I'm another old person who hitch-hiked loads when young. There were risks. I jumped out of moving cars twice (no central locking back then) and occasionally let some dickbrain feel my thighs while I guilt-tripped him into dropping me off somewhere safe.

I also had some incredibly generous drivers. One picked me up in a very comfy limo, plied me with chocolate and lovely conversation, and went about 100 miles out of his way to take me to my destination. Two drove me across seas (Channel and Ionian), ferry paid with board, took me to their friends for en-route hospitality and remained pen friends for some time. Most were just everyday nice people, both sexes. I enjoyed meeting so many different people with their different stories.

I picked a few up in my own car in the '80s, more when with my husband. None since. I can't say for sure, but I expect prevalence affects the risk level. A young woman hitch-hiking now would raise suspicion, men or groups even more so. It's a lot like the principle of 'Reclaim the Night' - when an activity is normal, normal social rules come into play. Outlying situations leave scope for outlier behaviours.

About five years ago, I was stuck in the pouring rain by a cancelled country bus, forcing me to tackle the eight-mile walk to the next town along a soggy A-road with no pavements. A pair of young chaps stopped to offer me a lift. After a brief dither, I decided this wasn't a Tarantino film and I really did need a lift! They were perfectly nice, even about the puddle I left on their back seat 🤗

I agree that it still feels more normal/acceptable the more rural you are.

The only times I've done it have been on long hikes. I remember once when I was a student catching a ride with a family, who then told me they were driving to an open day at my university. Worked well for all involved...

If I was driving through a national park or a wild costal area and saw someone struggling and asking for a ride? No problem...

But in a town/city? Not a chance.

I'm 50 and never thought it was safe! It certainly wasn't any safer in the 1970s and 1980s to jump into a random bloke's car or lorry than it is now.

That said I have given people lifts on a Scottish island and have given random people lifts home from the local station here when it snowed a lot in about 2010!

I'm late 50s and used to hitch a little in my teens/20s. Only ever in pairs, though. But I got a car at 22 and haven't hitched since! I picked people up in the 90s.

Fewer people hitch nowadays because, as PP has said, more people have cars of their own. But also, cheap rides are facilitated by apps like Co-Ride. They hook people up with lifts going in their direction, facilitate cost sharing/paying towards petrol and add in a degree of verification to help people's confidence over safety.

Last year I was driving down some country lane and a water bottle that was just on the back seat tipped and fell leaking water I pulled over to pick it up and a man got in my car! He asked for a lift to train station (about a mile away) I was terrified but said I’m turning in half mile (true) I’ll give u a lift to there. I did and he got out half mile later thank god. A bizarre experience .

I did it once on a trip back to the UK in the early 90s but I was travelling with two men so it felt quite safe. The final leg was in a lorry which was probably not allowed by the drivers company when I think about it now!

The last time I gave a hitchhiker a lift was in the early 2000s and up in the NW highlands of Scotland. He was at a bus stop so it was a case of whoever stopped first. A car or a bus. Again I was with a partner so it felt low risk.

I can remember the conversations I had with people on those trips even now and whilst I wouldn’t encourage it (and I certainly wouldn’t encourage my children to do it!) it does make me feel nostalgic for a different time.