# Hitchhiking - Legality
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 27, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910 "2001-07-27T00:13:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/1 "2001-07-27T00:13:41Z")
I have done some searches on google and others, but I can’t seem to find a concise accurate list of hitchhiking laws from state-to-state. Are there any states where it is out-and-out illegal and I should plan my travels to stay out of that state?
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### Author:  [@jabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabe)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/2 "2001-07-27T00:41:17Z")
It is illegal to hitchhike on interstates in Vermont. I am not sure about secondary roads, but if you are here and see an old, beat looking red saab slow down, its probably me.
peace,
JB
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### Author:  [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/3 "2001-07-27T01:40:35Z")
It’s illegal to hitchhike on interstate highways, period (pedestrian traffic prohibited, and all that).
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/4 "2001-07-27T02:38:17Z")
Hitchhiking is illegal throughout the state of Wyoming.
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### Author:  [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/5 "2001-07-27T03:47:14Z")
[California Vehicle Code](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vctoc.htm), Division 11 (“Rules of the Road”), [Chapter 5](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/tocd11c5.htm) (“Pedestrians’ Rights and Duties”), [§21957](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21957.htm):
> [@](#):
>
> **Hitchhiking**
> 21957. No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any vehicle.
Apparently, it’s illegal in California. Not that you don’t see people doing it from time to time.
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### Author:  [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/6 "2001-07-27T03:47:58Z")
Hitchhiking is not illegal on any of the interstates or highways in the state of South Dakota.
The SD Highway Patrol did state, however, that it was not a “good idea.”
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### Author:  [@Jorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/7 "2001-07-27T06:00:17Z")
Hitchhiking of a sort is legal in the Washington DC area, even encouraged.
It’s called “slugging”.
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### Author:  [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/8 "2001-07-27T06:29:22Z")
Hitchhiking is frowned upon where I come from (another country) but why should that be so anywhere at all? It’s a very Green concept and you would think that legitimate hitchhiking could even cut a country’s energy consumption. I read of an idea someone had once whereby hitchhikers would buy books of lottery tickets and then hitch wherever they liked giving every driver who offered them a lift a ticket. I don’t know if it was ever tried.
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### Author:  [@FarmerOak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerOak)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/9 "2001-07-27T09:14:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brad\_d \*
> \*\*[California Vehicle Code](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vctoc.htm), Division 11 (“Rules of the Road”), [Chapter 5](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/tocd11c5.htm) (“Pedestrians’ Rights and Duties”), [§21957](http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21957.htm):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > **Hitchhiking**
> > 21957. No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any vehicle.
>
> Apparently, it’s illegal in California. Not that you don’t see people doing it from time to time.
> \*\*
This wording apparently prohibits the hailing of a cab.
Not that anyone hails cabs here. I’m just saying.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/10 "2001-07-27T14:58:31Z")
G. Nome’s - actually, the system you mentioned was used in Poland, and I suspect maybe some other European countries. Hitchhikers would get vouchers and when a driver picked them up, they would receive a voucher or ticket in exchange. Unforunately, I don’t remember what was done with these vouchers/tickets in the end…whether it was a lottery or something else, but I am absolutely positive that the system did exist.
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### Author:  [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/11 "2001-07-27T15:24:00Z")
I think hitchhiking in the United States is pretty much illegal everywhere. However, its a “nuisance crime”, like panhandling and the like, so its really pretty arbitrary whether you’d get prosecuted for it or not. My guess is, unless you really piss off the local constabulary, you’ll just be told to get lost. Definitely don’t stand around on interstate highways, because that WILL get you busted. Just be discreet. I see hitchhikers fairly often in my town, and I have yet to witness one being busted, or even hassled for that matter.
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### Author:  [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/12 "2001-07-27T15:25:25Z")
\*\*
> [@](#):
>
> 1. No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any vehicle.
Apparently, it’s illegal in California. Not that you don’t see people doing it from time to time. \*\*
[/QUOTE]
My friend used to hitchhike back to school using a sign that read “NOT SOLICITING A RIDE TO CHINO.”
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### Author:  [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/13 "2001-07-27T19:39:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brad\_d \*
> **Hitchhiking
> 21957. No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any vehicle.**
Who stands in the roadway? I always stand on the sidewalk or the grass off of the road. And what if you’re sitting? This wording tends to support something I heard once about hitchhiking legality in some places: Standing up with thumb out - Illegal. Sitting down with a sign - Legal.
I’d never hitch on the interstate anyway. On-ramps are much more convenient. Well, perhaps I might, if I was in a really desolate area where the only traffic was already on the interstate. But then I’d have to make a BIG sign and stand where drivers could see me coming for miles in advance, so they’d have time to stop in a reasonable area. But I’ve never hitchhiked in that particular manner, anyway, so I dunno.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/14 "2001-07-27T21:42:29Z")
I think that the reason that hitchhiking is illegal in many places is a matter of safety, not energy usage. Lawmakers are afraid of dangerous sorts getting picked up by innocent victims, or innocent hitchhikers getting picked up by criminals. Note that I’m not saying that this is something to worry about on either count (I don’t know), just that lawmakers _think_ it’s something to worry about.
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### Author:  [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/15 "2001-08-01T22:57:00Z")
pulykamell and Chronos: A voucher system involving microchips would surely take a lot of risk out of travelling with strangers. If, at the point of accepting a lift, the hitchhiker could enter the car’s registration number into a database (using a mobile phone, perhaps) then at least they could be traced if anything went wrong. The driver could be entered into the lottery in that way.
A system involving ordinary lottery tickets would work better if it was the driver’s responsibility to enter the ticket in the lottery. The incentive would be there if the prize was big enough. Imagine if it worked! A hitchhiker could cross the United States for $20. That much might buy a book of, say, five tickets all with a chance of winning a million dollars.
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### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhiking-legality/73910/16 "2001-08-01T23:20:44Z")
My paper recently had an article about hitchhiking in the San Francisco bay area. A car pool in northern California is 3 or more people. Apparently there are areas where people meet to get rides into the city. This allows the drivers of the car to use the carpool lanes and get to work faster and cheaper because they avoid paying the bridge toll. So at least in this area California does not seem to be inforcing anti hitchhiker laws.
Anyway they had some funny quotes in there like city officials saying this practice was abusing carpool lanes. I really could not figure out what he was talking about. It sounds to me exactly what car pool lanes were designed for getting people to share the ride to reduce the number of cars on the road.
There was some whining about this was taking riders away from BART (the local commuter train). It sounded to me like he was saying if more people use something better than BART I will be out of a job. We better do something about that. Maybe a law or something.