The law states, “No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any vehicle.”
Does that mean you can’t hitchhike? Or is it okay from the side of the road?
This website says it’s legal. But it warns you still might get hassled by the man.
Legal definitions:
Roadway: 530. A “roadway” is that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
Highway: 360. “Highway” is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.
Street: 590. “Street” is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Street includes highway.
So, ambiguous.
Crowdsourced info:
http://hitchwiki.org/en/California
According to them, standing on the shoulder may technically constitute the “roadway” and some cops may ticket you. From the side of the road, you might run into “solicitation” laws if you happen to piss off a cop.
In reality, most cops have better things to do.
Thanks, all. Trying like hell to get to a funeral in Big Sur tomorrow, but public transit only goes as far as Monterey.
Google says Route 22 takes you from Monterey to Big Sur, running twice on Saturday, for $3.50:
https://goo.gl/maps/KkxdT
Or straight from Monterey-Salinas Transit:
If that doesn’t work out for some reason, the stretch of Hwy 1 south of town gets pretty skinny, overlooking sheer drops into the ocean. Just be careful.
Right before you leave Monterey, there is a shopping plaza called The Crossroads with a Safeway, Starbucks, CVS, and a Chevron across the street – meaning potential traffic southbound traffic and sidewalks to stand on.
Good luck, and if you’re able to, take a walk around Big Sur before or after the funeral. It is an incredibly beautiful, peaceful area.
For what it’s worth, I got a ticket from the CHP for hitchhiking on the side of a freeway. But that was in about 1967, so things may have changed.
Isn’t that in Carmel?
Absolutely. Big Sur is awesome.
Police are trained that the “Roadway” is the traveled portion of the highway, i.e. not the shoulder or barrow ditch. Some hitchhikers like to stand in the roadway to get noticed and traffic has to swerve around them. This is what is illegal. Successful hitchhikers know you have to stand where traffic has a good chance to see you before they’re past you and you need a good spot in the road for them to pull over and pick you up. Entrance ramps to interstates work well, as does standing right before a wide pull off area of a two lane road. Avoid curves, hills and narrow roads with no shoulders.
Good luck and I hope you get there in time.
Seems pretty clear to me. The “roadway” is that area designated for traffic lanes and the flow of traffic. As long as you are not standing on a traffic lane, you are not in violation. The shoulder of a road is not a part of the “roadway” and it is illegal to drive on it, so it is not “ordinarily used for vehicular travel”.
Basically, a cop can run you off, anywhere, and at his discretion use, as an excuse, danger to yourself of the public. But if he tickets, detains or arrests you for hitchhiking on a shoulder, you have a case.
The wording says “improved, designed, or ordinarily used” for vehicular travel. Shoulders may not be ordinarily used by cars, but they were certainly designed and improved to accommodate them – clearances, paving, rumble strips, etc. are all made for cars as opposed to bicycles or pedestrians or anyone else. The Federal Highway Administration defines shoulders as “the portion of the roadway contiguous with the traveled way for accommodation of stopped vehicles for emergency use” (emphasis mine). I don’t know if California courts would abide by the federal definition.
It also seems (my opinion only) that cops just won’t care enough. And also seems to me that a hitchhiker who couldn’t be bothered to find a <$20 bus ride or a Craigslist driver probably wouldn’t bother challenging it in court either. Maybe I’m just stereotyping based on the kinds of hitchhikers I’ve picked up over the years, but most of 'em seem more like the carefree, fuck-the-man types than somebody who would argue the definition of “roadway” in front of a judge. shrug I’m not a lawyer.
Was the ticket specifically for hitchhiking, or was it simply for being on the side of a freeway? Generally, pedestrians are not permitted on freeways at all. And cars aren’t supposed to stop on freeways anyway, except for “emergencies”. Were you at an entrance to a freeway?
Sorry, you’re right. I tend to lazily think of that whole area as “Monterey” because I’m not from there. But yeah, Carmel is a smaller, charming town between Monterey proper and the highway leading south to Big Sur.
Yabut you didn’t have a flower in your hair.
Yeah, that was probably it. We had just walked up the on-ramp. I tried to schmooze the cop by telling him I was heading for Vietnam in a week. His partner wanted to give us a pass, but the prick wrote the ticket anyway.
No worries. By the way, I got tagged with “Monty” on the old AOL SDMB because my username there is montereygo. As you would imagine, I’m more than a tad familiar with the area.
This is late, but in case it’s useful for future reference…
I emailed the CHP about this and this is what they said:
I don’t know if that clarifies or further muddies the definition of “shoulder”, now that the new term “road” is thrown in there alongside “roadway”.