# Is hitchhiking legal in California?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 12, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917 "2014-04-12T04:19:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/1 "2014-04-12T04:19:18Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/2 "2014-04-12T04:27:55Z")
[This website says it’s legal](http://hitchwiki.org/en/California). But it warns you still might get hassled by the man.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/3 "2014-04-12T04:34:56Z")
Legal [definitions](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/tocd1.htm):
[Roadway](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc530.htm): 530. A “roadway” is that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
[Highway](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc360.htm): 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](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc590.htm): 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](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.
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/4 "2014-04-12T04:49:16Z")
Thanks, all. Trying like hell to get to a funeral in Big Sur tomorrow, but public transit only goes as far as Monterey.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/5 "2014-04-12T05:35:44Z")
> [@brujaja](#):
>
> 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](https://goo.gl/maps/KkxdT)
Or straight from Monterey-Salinas Transit:
> **[22.pdf](https://www.mst.org/wp-content/media/22.pdf)**
>
> 864.40 KB
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/6 "2014-04-12T05:45:37Z")
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](https://goo.gl/maps/xIdgW) 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.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/7 "2014-04-12T14:11:02Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/8 "2014-04-12T14:14:01Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> 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](https://goo.gl/maps/xIdgW) with a Safeway, Starbucks, CVS, and a Chevron across the street – meaning potential traffic southbound traffic and sidewalks to stand on.
Isn’t that in Carmel?
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
Absolutely. Big Sur is awesome.
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### Author:  [@Beauregard\_Porkypine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauregard_Porkypine)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/9 "2014-04-12T18:11:00Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/10 "2014-04-12T21:25:35Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> [Roadway](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc530.htm): 530. A “roadway” is that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.
>
> So, ambiguous.
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.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/11 "2014-04-12T22:01:42Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> 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](http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/t504029.cfm) 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.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/12 "2014-04-12T22:05:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> 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.
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?
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/13 "2014-04-12T22:07:07Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> Isn’t that in Carmel?
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.
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### Author:  [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/14 "2014-04-12T22:10:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> 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.
Yabut you didn’t have a flower in your hair.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/15 "2014-04-12T23:11:10Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> 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?
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.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/16 "2014-04-13T00:59:05Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hitchhiking-legal-in-california/685917/17 "2014-04-17T00:03:21Z")
This is late, but in case it’s useful for future reference…
I emailed the CHP about this and this is what they said:
> [@](#):
>
> -The road is defined as the traffic lanes, shoulders and sidewalks.
> -The roadway is defined as the traffic lanes or the main traveled portion of the road if there are no lane markings.
> -Pedestrians are not permitted on some roads and these areas are clearly marked. Pedestrians are not permitted on Freeways or Interstates. Do not pass the black and white
> sign posted on the on-ramp stating “Pedestrians Prohibited.”
> -The CHP cannot comment t on local County or City ordinances.
>
> If you have any further questions feel free to email or contact your local CHP office.
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”.