Do you ever pick up hitchhikers?

Linda

Linda

Senior Member
Location
Central California foothills
We all know it's not safe, but do you sometimes pick up hitchhikers? If so how do you decide when to stop and offer a ride or to just look straight ahead and go on by?
 

No we never pick up hitchhikers anymore. Twenty or more years ago we did,
especially women but now they can pull a knife as quick as a male.
It's just not safe!
 

Probably one of the statements that makes us wonder what has happened to the society in which we live. Anyone who would pick up a hitchhiker today may well be signing their own death warrant. I drive 30,000 miles + every year. There is no way I'd stop to pick up ANYONE!! As someone else said, cell phones can alert law enforcement if you think someone needs checked on.
 
I was a hitch hiker for many years. Most people who gave me a ride said they did because they were afraid of some nuts picking me up. Only one guy was disrespectful towards me. He grabbed a part of my body and I jumped out and ran. I don't hitch hike anymore. Too many psychos could pick me up!
 
That's a very kind story applecruncher. Thanks for sharing it.

I have to say I don't even want to give a ride to an acquaintance.
 
Kitties said:
That's a very kind story applecruncher. Thanks for sharing it.

I have to say I don't even want to give a ride to an acquaintance.
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Thanks, Kitties. My mother was just that way. :) The woman offered mom a couple dollars, but of course mom refused to take it. Also, meant to mention the woman and her kids were dressed up, and she had on a dress and heels! (This was in 1965), but walking in a remote country road with 2 kids and a large brown paper bag, going to visit husband in prison. It was kind of sad. :( As I think back, it was like a movie scene. I hope when the man got out that he treated his little family well.
 
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I used to hitch a lot with my friends when I was a teenager. I was lucky to grow up but this was in the '70's and it seemed safer somehow.

I rarely see anyone hitching anymore except the occasional traveler on the highway but I wouldn't pick anyone up. Even neighbors' teenage kids have cars of their own these days. I envision every hitcher as a potential serial killer and I'm too scared ( and smart?) to be kind.
 
I hitchhiked a few times as a teen, without the knowledge of my mother of course :p and looking back, I was lucky nothing bad ever happened. One guy tried to get too 'friendly' with me, and I got angry and demanded he pull over and let me out immediately, which he did.

I used to pick up hitchhikers when I was younger too, and a couple of times on the way to work when it was still dark out in the morning, I'd see someone on the side of the street needing a jump, and I'd quickly pull over, get out my cables and help them.

A long time ago, after hearing some disturbing stories on the news, my husband made me promise never to pick up a hitchhiker or help a stranger on the side of the road. I made the promise and kept it. Very true, things were a lot different when we were young, seemed like a more relaxed and friendlier time.
 
I do fairly often. I must qualify the answer though. I live in an extremely rural area,there are three guys and one woman that hitchhike back and forth to their work. I know them only from seeing them on the road every day,so I do help them out with out qualm.
 
Some of these stories reminded me of an incident back in,oh,probably 1969-70. Hubby went out with his National Guard buddies after their weekend meeting and had a few beers too many. He was 21 at the time,I was 19. I was mad that he had driven home after drinking and made plans to go to a friend`s house for the evening. He went to take a shower and I put his car keys in the freezer and left with our then 1 yo. He knew where I had gone,so he decided to hitch hike to come ask me to come home. He always hated when I got mad at him lol. Still does. Anyway,I was about 20 miles away and he got picked up by a guy who was willing to take him that far. They made small talk for a while,then the guy asked him to do something "inappropriate" to him. Hubby said "oh,here`s where I`m going-drop me off here." Luckily for him,he did. Last time he ever hitchhiked!
 
Mrs. Robinson, I'm glad your husband made it out of that ride OK. That could have turned pretty ugly. Most of the people we pick up we already know. From where we live in the mountains there are only 2 windy narrow roads to get down to the flatlands. People run out of gas or have car trouble every once in awhile. Cell phones don't work up here, or ours don't anyway. In this weather we always carry an ice chest with bottled water in case any one needs it. (We drink it too :) We've only picked up one person who I would call an unsavory person. After that our kids got pretty mad so I told my husband we better be careful as they are the people who might want to put us in a nursing home someday.
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
They made small talk for a while,then the guy asked him to do something "inappropriate" to him. Hubby said "oh,here`s where I`m going-drop me off here." Luckily for him,he did. Last time he ever hitchhiked!
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This brings back an scary memory for me. I was 16 and living in NH at the time, working at an ice cream parlor in Concord, which was about 8 miles from my home. I didn't have access to a car and thus had to hitchhike from time to time. One night in early spring, I had to hitch a ride home. The guy who picked me up demanded oral sex about a mile after I got into the car. I was so scared, but refused his offer of a ride with those conditions, so he pulled over on a dark road and ordered me out. He pulled a quick U-turn and I stood there shaking in the middle of nowhere. This was before the days of cell phones, so after a few minutes I figured the only way to get home was either to go to a house (this was a rural road) or get another ride. I gathered up the courage to flag down a ride and a kind gentleman, a chauffeur driving a limo who had just dropped off some rich kid at nearby St. Paul's private school, pulled over and gave me a ride right to my door. I was shaking. After that I traveled with a knife if I knew I had to hitch a ride.

In my first couple of years in college (early 70s) I hitched long distance between Boston and New Jersey. Never had a problem but was always on guard and had protection just in case.

Can't remember the last time I picked up a hitchhiker, but wouldn't do so these days. A few years ago on a bitter cold winter night I had gone for massage on my shoulder following surgery. I got into my car and a young woman approached my window begging for a ride "just a few miles" up the road. We were in the middle of the business district, but our town has had its share of drug problems/addicts in that area. I hated to turn her down, but it was dark and I had visions of just what could go wrong had I opened my door to her. I directed her to the nearby police station which was just a block away.
 
When I was in high school, my best friend and I were dating boys who had joined the Navy and were stationed in Norfolk, VA. They would hitchhike home (in uniform) to our Midwest city every chance they got, sometimes together if they were lucky and sometimes they had to split up. They'd roll into town and we'd go pick them up from where ever they were dropped off. Poor guys would have about 24 hours in town and then have to hitch back to Norfolk. I was always grateful for the kindness of the strangers who picked them up.

She's still married to her sailor, 51 years later. I don't know where mine ended up.

The last time I had hitchhikers was about 15 years ago. I was out on a business call and had stopped in a turnpike service plaza on my way back to the office. There was an older couple whose car had broken down and had been towed to a local dealership. They were waiting for their daughter to get off work at 5:00 and then come to get them (about an hour's drive). It was about 2:00 p.m. and they looked pretty tired. I found out that their daughter's office was less than a mile from mine, so I offered them a ride. I was driving a company van and there was only one passenger seat but the husband was quite grateful to sit on some boxes in the back of the van. It was an interesting drive. It turned out that the husband was a retired Episcopal priest and the wife was formerly a Roman Catholic nun, who had actually lived in the convent where my late sister-in-law had been a novice. Small world.
 

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