# Was it safer to hitchhike in the us back in the days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 22, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210 "2017-05-22T15:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/1 "2017-05-22T15:20:14Z")
According to science violence is going down globally, and we have never lived in a more safe time in history (referring to Steve Pinker et al). However, I do have a feeling that people don’t feel as safe when it comes to hitchhiking and other activities when it comes to trust strangers. (as compared to lets say the 60s) Is this a real paradox? (I have no data to back this up) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/2 "2017-05-22T15:23:48Z")
I’m not sure, because there are many factors that could affect the safety of hitchhiking. Is the pool of hitchhikers different than it was in the past? Probably. Is the pool of drivers willing to pick up hitchhikers different than it was in the past? Probably. I’ve always thought of hitchhiking as very dangerous, and I imagine it’s probably about as dangerous today as it used to be. No more no less on average, although that’s just my rough guess. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/3 "2017-05-22T15:39:33Z")
Ted Bundy says no. Hitchhiking isn’t inherently dangerous in and of itself. I have done it a bunch of times especially in the Virgin Islands. The most dangerous part is standing beside the road while waiting for a ride. However, given enough people, somebody is bound to be a psychopathic serial killer or, more likely, a generic nutter that will tell you some crazy shit but that is the way that all life works. Uber is really just hitchhiking for pay and hardly anything bad ever happens although it will at some point and the news will make a huge deal out of it. For that matter, taxis are just hitchhiking with lots of yellow added. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/4 "2017-05-22T16:07:05Z")
We hear news these days from more places than we used to, so we learn about more random murder stories than we would have back in the day. On the other hand, transportation is a lot cheaper these days. That means that the pool of traveling people who cannot afford travel by bus or air, or even to own their own car, has narrowed to a smaller range of society and potentially includes a higher percentage of people who have trouble functioning in society. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/5 "2017-05-22T16:35:18Z")
Hitchhiking is nowhere as common, from what I see. This may raise the danger per hitchhiker. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/6 "2017-05-22T17:52:37Z")
Yes, I think hitchhiking is generally safer in societies where it is commonly done and accepted. Right now, the problem is that it is so uncommon in most parts of the US that it’s viewed with deep suspicion and the social norm is NOT to pick up hitchhikers, which increases the odds that anyone who does pick them up is either crazy or has ulterior motives. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/7 "2017-05-22T18:38:54Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > However, I do have a feeling that people don’t feel as safe when it comes to hitchhiking and other activities when it comes to trust strangers. (as compared to lets say the 60s) Is this a real paradox? (I have no data to back this up) And children in the 1950s wandered around New York unattended. There is no paradox. People _are_ safer today than they were in the 50s or 60s. But, due to a whole host of reasons, including world-wide light speed communications and a sensationalist media, people feel much, much _less_ safe. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/8 "2017-05-22T19:00:44Z")
I didn’t have any problems hitch hiking in the States in the late 80s/early 90s. Even picked up sometimes by single women, actually a few times. I guess it’s less frequent now - many people who picked me up had either hitched themselves in the past or had people close to them hitch. ---
**Author:** ![Thundazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/57b2e6/32.png) [@Thundazz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thundazz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/9 "2017-05-22T19:08:36Z")
If anything I’d say violence is on the up, especially in my area where there are almost daily fights and assaults. As for murder and stuff like Ted Bundy, that’s not to so common, but I wouldn’t be surprised it happened. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/10 "2017-05-22T20:11:15Z")
The US [is way way safer right](http://nextstageprep.com/despite-media-hysteria-violent-crime-is-at-record-lows/) now than it has been pretty much in any time in history. Fear of crime has increased (and hitch hiking was a victim of that), but actual crime has gone down. Anecdotally I have known people who have successfully, safely, hitch hiked across latin america (much of which has order of magnitude higher crime rate than the US), only to have to give up and take the bus when they reached the US as it was not a feasible means of transport. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/11 "2017-05-22T20:55:42Z")
Hitching has always been quite dangerous in the US. When I was in high school (late 60s), I did not have any acquaintances who died from drug overdoses, shootings, or suicide. But I did have one friend who was murdered while hitching and two female friends who were raped. And this was a small high school. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/12 "2017-05-22T21:13:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Uber is really just hitchhiking for pay and hardly anything bad ever happens although it will at some point and the news will make a huge deal out of it. For that matter, taxis are just hitchhiking with lots of yellow added. The difference is that with Uber and taxis, their business is on record. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/13 "2017-05-22T21:23:44Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Hitching has always been quite dangerous in the US. Probably not. Here’s some actual [although sort of outdated data](https://wandrlymagazine.com/article/hitchhiking/) > [@linked article](#): > > From 1979 to 2009, there were 675 reported victims of sexual assault and murder along Interstate Highways1. > The FBI reports that “over 500” of those were murders. Not a very specific number, but that puts the number of sexual assaults that didn’t end in the loss of life at somewhere around 175. Sure, that’s only for Interstate Highways, so it doesn’t cover hitchhiking on local roads. And it could be that these crimes are underreported more than other crimes. And we’re missing the number of miles hitchhiked during that period. But this doesn’t appear to be a particularly dangerous mode of travel. I expect that by far the most dangerous part of hitchhiking is hanging out near roadways and getting accidentally hit by cars a lot more often as a result. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/14 "2017-05-22T21:26:53Z")
Hitchhikers in the 60s didn’t have cell phones in their pockets. That can be a game changer in terms of safety, especially if you’re proactive. Text a friend as soon as you’re picked up to say where you were picked up and maybe even by what make of car. (Excuse me, sir, I’m just texting my buddy to let him know I got picked up.") What’s more dangerous-- picking up someone or being picked up by someone? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/15 "2017-05-22T23:13:32Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > The US [is way way safer right](http://nextstageprep.com/despite-media-hysteria-violent-crime-is-at-record-lows/) now than it has been pretty much in any time in history. Thanks. I’m stealing that link. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/16 "2017-05-23T02:50:21Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The difference is that with Uber and taxis, their business is on record. I should think that would make any criminal acts worse - they might be more likely to murder you to keep you from talking or identifying them. Does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![john\_b\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@john\_b\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/john_b_2)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/17 "2017-05-23T06:24:44Z")
I hitch-hiked fairly often when I was young but that was more than forty years ago. In the Fifties to early Seventies period it got increasingly popular for younger people,–students and the like–to hitch-hike. To this I should add in places where it was relatively safe to do so. I can’t speak for the far west or the Deep South but in the northeast it was commonplace to see a youngish person, often with long hair,–even a young woman–hitch-hiking. I’m not sure if it got more dangerous or just went out of fashion. I haven’t seen a hitch-hiker anywhere for years, and I mean maybe even decades! ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/18 "2017-05-23T08:21:01Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > And children in the 1950s wandered around New York unattended. > > There is no paradox. People _are_ safer today than they were in the 50s or 60s. But, due to a whole host of reasons, including world-wide light speed communications and a sensationalist media, people feel much, much _less_ safe. I would also blame the movies. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/19 "2017-05-23T12:37:01Z")
As a kid I never hitch-hiked, but I rode my bike _everywhere_ without fear. We would ride from Squirrel Hill to Oakland and bum around the Carnegie Museum in the summer. In the 90s I unintentionally scarred the shit out of a hitchhiker. I picked up a young woman whose car had broken down around ten pm. I was driving a brand new Toyota Corolla. She was obviously nervous, and had gotten into the back seat. When I got to her destination, I pulled off the road and waited for her to get out. She fumbled with the door, and then said, “let me out”. The doors weren’t locked, and I told her this but she just kept trying to open the door. She kind of cried, “please let me out”, so I got out of the car and opened the door. She got out and darted away. I did not realize the car was equipped with child locks on the back doors, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/20 "2017-05-23T13:07:56Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I should think that would make any criminal acts worse - they might be more likely to murder you to keep you from talking or identifying them. Does that make sense? Uber GPS tracks the driver’s route. If Jane Smith’s body is found in the woods, and she’s in the system as getting into John Doe’s car shortly before her death, and John Doe’s GPS shows that he took a detour to the woods- it’s not gonna look good for him, is it? Or even if they don’t find her body, but she’s just gone missing, they’ll investigate her last known whereabouts, and her ride with John Doe will come up. If John Doe is some sort of serial killer, it makes much more sense for him to do it off the clock. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210.md?page=2)