Do you pick up hitchhikers?

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I used to before I had kids. I met some interesting people and never felt in danger.

Not anymore, people these days are just to unpredictable

A long time ago I did, as it was a common way for people who didn't have a lot of money to get around from place to place where I used to live. Before I had a car I used to hitchhike to get to the nearest "big" town with a library, and back again. Once I had a car I could drive it, but felt sorry for folks trying to get to town in the 100F heat. Then one evening I picked up a guy who "felt" weird. I gave him a lift from the middle of nowhere to a gas station.

Turned out that I saw his face on TV about a year later. He was a serial killer.
No joke.

Now I wouldn't give Mother Teresa (if she were alive) a lift.

I've no car, and I don't know what I'd do if I had one - on the one hand, there's an opportunity to meet some truly interesting people, hear good stories, learn new things (and get good tips), and so on... but on the other hand, there's the inherent danger of it that would make me extremely wary. I think I'd be judicious, but I don't know how far that would extend. And I know that some places are better than others. (It's actually illegal within city limits here.)

However, when I was young and lived in Austria, we would make frequent trips to the Czech Republic. We would almost never make a trip without having picked up at least one hitchhiker, and often more. They were always soldiers, on leave and trying to get home to see their families (I'm not sure, perhaps there was a draft on; I'm going to go and look it up). I wish I could have heard their stories, but they spoke exclusively in Czech and thus only to my father.

I don't have a car or a liscense so it's sort of a moot point.

I would consider it if I did.

Yes, but not off the side of the road. If they come up to me at a convience store or something, maybe.

Depends on where I am and whether or not I know them.

Back on the island, on the north coast of Maine, lots of people hitch-hiked. When I saw a hitch-hiker, most of the time, I knew them from around town, so I picked them up. There were a few hitch-hikers I didn't pick up, though - those with a reputation for hitch-hiking discourtesy (refusing to get out of your car until you drive them to some obscure destination, for example).

I do not recommend hitch-hiking or picking up hitch-hikers anywhere outside of a small community with which you are very familiar. Like spudnik said, people are just too unpredictable these days.

I've yet to come across one, but if I ever do, I wouldn't even consider stopping for them. There are simply too many terrible possibilites.
First off, I wouldn't want a stranger to be that close to me, especially when social rules dictate that we should be engaging in all manner of small talk, when I'm driving, which is a recipe for disaster if there ever was one. Conversation is hard enough when I'm stationary thank you very much, I don't need the challenge to increase further. It was a miracle I passed my damn test when the examiner started probing me on my holiday plans during the exam, damn fool shoulda quit his jibba jabba BEFORE we began.
Then there's the fact that being in a confined space with a stranger puts me at risk of catching some kind of illness. Which I'm prone to, as history has proven countless times.
Then there's the possibility that they might be some stab-happy mutilater of innocent motorists.
Or they might just smell.
Or they might be morbidly obese and damage my damn suspension.
Or I might be unwittingly assisting a jerk, by transporting them to a place where they can further facilitate their jerkitude.
Or I might run someone over by accident and the hitchhiker would be a witness, which means that I'd have to do away with them too.
Or they might be flatulent.
Or they might bear withness to my own flatulence and not hold back when showing their disapproval.
Or they might steal the pennies from the ashtray when I'm not looking.
Or they might be a Daily Mail reader.
Or the might just plain suck.
Point is, I'm not prepared to take these kind of risks. That and I'm naturally predisposed to being unhelpful, cantankerous and unaffected by other's misfortune. If they're stuck in the middle of nowhere, it was probably their own fault anyway. Damn hitchhikers cluttering up our many grassy verges, once pristine and free of unwholesome transients, but now sullied and defiled by the musty odours of roadside miscreants.
Well I'm not going to let them stand in my way any longer, I'm going to Disneyland!

Wait a minute, what were we talking about again?

No, I never did. It's dangerous I heard. If it was a mother and kids, I probably would or if it was a family and I had room in my car.


It used to be safe back when my parents were young adults and when they were kids. My father even picked up hitchhikers, then he stopped when things changed.


Nan, who was the killer you picked up?

Goodness you were lucky you didn't get killed or attacked.

Don't drive yet but when I do. No Way!

If it's someone that looks vulnerable, for example a teenage girl, I'd certainly give them a ride. For thier own safety.
It's better to ride with me than with an Ivan Milat wannabe

never have yet.

I have once. However it was just a guy who had walked all the way into town and was getting tired walking back, so I gave him a lift to his house (which was a half-mile down the road I was going down anyways). Regardless I live in a small town where the biggest crime anyone ever commits is building a meth lab.

Henry Lee Lucas. He was chatting me up, asking all sorts of personal questions. So I told him my husband was a police officer (he wasn't, and I was in the middle of a nasty divorce at the time). He offered to take us both out for a spaghetti supper, which I politely declined saying my hubby would have a fit if he knew I'd picked up a hitch hiker. When I left him at the gas station he asked if he could have some money - I gave him the change I had in the ash tray - about 35 cents, I think. I filled up my tank and left him there. The only reason I gave him a lift is that it looked like it was going to pour down rain and he was a long way from town.

Eeeeeeeeeeeek.

[quote="Nan]Henry Lee Lucas.[/quote]



He was convicted of 11 murders, confessed to over 600.
Woah. Scary.

I didn't drive for long but no I never did and never would pick up a hitch hiker due to scary stories like that.

When I was a kid, my parents were blindly trusting of strangers....they were just the type to take people in off the street and that is somewhat akin to picking up hitchhikers...I am sure my dad probly has....
Anywhoo.....From that, I have learned to be leery of most strangers..and def. would not concider picking up a hitchiker if I did drive a car...