# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/21 "2017-05-23T13:29:38Z")
1. We are much safer today compared to 40-50 years ago for a variety of reasons. 2. People don’t feel safer today compared to 40-50 years ago, primarily due to increased individual access to real time news 24-7. 3. Perception is reality for most people. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/22 "2017-05-23T15:48:32Z")
It could also be similar to kids playing outside alone. We used to do it all the time when I was little, but there were dozens of us out there. When my daughter was young, we didn’t let her play out as often, because _no one else was out there_. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/23 "2017-05-23T16:15:21Z")
I hitch hiked a lot as a teenager, never had a real problem, my gimmick of carrying a sign that said “I give Green Stamps” got me rides from people otherwise unlikely to stop. Of course I was also a guy, bigger than average, not the most likely of targets. Safer now or less? I don’t have a way to draw a conclusion but **John Mace** pointed out a way it could be much safer now, have a nice app to help, but there would still be problems. Get a shot of a license plate and the driver, activate the GPS, have follow ups in case anyone seems to disappear. OTOH failure to followup may result in innocent drivers being pulled over looking for someone who was dropped off at the mall. The driver would still be in danger if they don’t take the same kind of steps themselves. It will never be totally safe, but even using Uber isn’t either. ---
**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 23, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/24 "2017-05-23T17:35:19Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > 1. We are much safer today compared to 40-50 years ago for a variety of reasons. Possibly including, of course, the exercise of greater care toward potential danger. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/25 "2017-05-23T17:55:28Z")
Whenever people say that we’re less safe today, I like to bring up Madeleine McCann and JonBenet Ramsay. Everyone knows who they are, and yet they never stop to think about _why_ they know about a kidnapping and murder that happened nowhere near where they live. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/26 "2017-05-23T18:56:01Z")
> [@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. > > 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. Your article proves that the murder rate is returning to 1950s levels, nit that we are safer now than ever. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/27 "2017-05-23T20:45:30Z")
Most dangerous thing these days would be dying of exposure. Nobody picks up hitchhikers anymore. I’m actually thinking of doing an experiment. Drive down to the highway and see if I can get a ride to the store. But I’m too lazy and its hot. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/28 "2017-05-24T08:39:32Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Your article proves that the murder rate is returning to 1950s levels, nit that we are safer now than ever. Which was historically the[lowest period](http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/23/us/historical-study-of-homicide-and-cities-surprises-the-experts.html?mcubz=0), so yes it does. Besides the OP specifically talking about the 1960s, when the murder rate was higher than it is now (in the late 60s much higher) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/29 "2017-06-12T13:42:39Z")
Anecdotal evidence: my friends and I hitchhiked everywhere in the 70s. It wasn’t just a hippie thing, we were clean cut young professionals. I “hitched” to work across town most mornings, and I remember one old driver who had a logbook that all his “guests” signed or doodled in. The only downside is that you were a captive audience to whatever conspiracy theory your driver wanted to convince you of. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/30 "2017-06-12T16:01:52Z")
There was increasing awareness of hitchhiking-associated dangers as far back as the '50s, and laws limiting/prohibiting hitchhiking became increasingly common during the '60s. What really made people more wary of hitchhiking were well-publicized [cases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa_hitchhiker_murders) of [serial murderers](https://www.biography.com/people/edmund-kemper-403254) doing in victims they picked up along the highways, plus movies featuring themes of death and mayhem associated with the practice. Hitchhiking is probably not more dangerous now than it was decades ago. Still, there’s no way I’d pick up a hitchhiker, much less thumb a ride myself. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/31 "2017-06-12T16:25:57Z")
Aside from the Problem of perception, there’s also a Kind of self-regulation hinted at above: if everybody did both hitch-hike and Transport Hitchhikers, odd of getting a killer were low; but because of perception as unsafe, today nobody hitch-hikes, and nobody picks sb. up (the fear is not just Young women hitch-hiking being murdererd - it’s also women Drivers picking up an axe murderer). In Addition, technical Progress has lessened the Need a lot and improved safety - not necessarily because everybody can afford a car; but already mentioned were cell phones (though in remote Areas you might not get a Signal?). Asides from Uber, back in the 70s People started “Mitfahrzentralen” (co-driving centers) where Drivers could Register and pick up registered co-drivers, who would pay a fixed amount per km. (By registering, the Centers also offered Special insurance in case of accidents.) Knowing all names were registered made it safe from Serial Killers (and you could rate if the Driver was a good + safe Driver). Or People shared their commute to work in the 80s, esp. in big companies (often with incentives from Management, not just enviromental, but needing less parking space). Today, with Internet, you Register there and pick up People, and share costs, not just use Uber like expensive Taxis. So while not classic hitch-hiking, cheap travel is still possible. As for the old times being safer: Es geschah am hellichten Tag [It Happened in Broad Daylight (1958) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051588/) was made in 1958 based on an older crime novel. While not strictly hitch-hiking (the Serial killer befriends Young Girls playing near the road he travels on by giving them chocolate) it Shows the danger, and how easy a traveling killer could escape detection by Police. (The book is different because it’s intended as “Death of the classic crime novel”, but that’s a different Point). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Plutonium\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Plutonium_Kid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/32 "2017-06-14T02:35:40Z")
It was less dangerous, but it still wasn’t safe. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/33 "2017-06-14T02:49:08Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > 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. Uber drivers are run through police checks. People with a past violent misdemeanor or a felony of any kind usually can’t drive. There might be exceptions for someone who passed a bad check and got caught, but most criminals of any ilk can’t become Uber drivers. So you are not getting picked up by just anyone, IF you check the car license against the information you get, and the driver’s picture against your info. Don’t stand around a corner looking like you are waiting for something, and then get into a car that pulls up and says he’s an Uber. More people just vanished in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Who’s to say if some of them didn’t vanish with the “help” of either a pick-up or a hitcher. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/34 "2017-06-14T02:51:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Most dangerous thing these days would be dying of exposure. Nobody picks up hitchhikers anymore. Since I never see any, how could I pick them up? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/35 "2017-06-16T02:00:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > What really made people more wary of hitchhiking were well-publicized [cases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa_hitchhiker_murders) of [serial murderers](https://www.biography.com/people/edmund-kemper-403254) doing in victims they picked up along the highways. That’s what heppened in Aus. Hitching was declining in popularity anyway, as kids became less mobile, but there was still a trail of young English tourists going up the east coast, and through outback Aus. They’d hitch, tell their friends, and more would come with that plan. Then word got around. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/36 "2017-06-23T21:27:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There was increasing awareness of hitchhiking-associated dangers as far back as the '50s, and laws limiting/prohibiting hitchhiking became increasingly common during the '60s. > > What really made people more wary of hitchhiking were well-publicized [cases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa_hitchhiker_murders) of [serial murderers](https://www.biography.com/people/edmund-kemper-403254) doing in victims they picked up along the highways, plus movies featuring themes of death and mayhem associated with the practice. > > Hitchhiking is probably not more dangerous now than it was decades ago. Still, there’s no way I’d pick up a hitchhiker, much less thumb a ride myself. Hitchhiking took a major hit in 1978. In that year, a guy raped and left for dead a teenager named Mary Vincent. He cut off her hands so she would be harder to identify. Thing is, she survived. She went on a lecture circuit afterwards, with her prosthetic hands very prominent, about the dangers of hitchhiking. She may have done it for the money, for all I know, or maybe she really cared (she’s still alive, BTW, and ironically, has become a graphic artist, when she had no interest in art before losing her hands). But her lectures got some press coverage. I know I never really considered hitching, so it wasn’t like I was exactly scared straight, but the story did make an impression on me-- enough that one time when I ran out of gas, and was walking about two miles to my car with a gas can, and someone offered me a ride, I said “No,” because I remembered the story of Mary Vincent. I’m not sure if there’s anyway of tallying hitchhiking stats, but I’ll bet there was a big drop from 1978 to 1979. There were also lots of anti-hitching PSA around the same time, and episodes of TV shows that had an anti-hitching message. I don’t know if Mary Vincent came along at the right time-- ie, a movement was on the lookout for a poster child-- or she really actually inspired the movement, but the incident involving her certainly effected a change in hitching habits in young people. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/37 "2017-06-24T02:24:41Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Hitchhiking took a major hit in 1978. In that year, a guy raped and left for dead a teenager named Mary Vincent. He cut off her hands so she would be harder to identify. Thing is, she survived. AND SHE IS KN0CKING 0N THE DOOR RIGHT NOW!!!l!1! :eek: ---
**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:** [June 24, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/38 "2017-06-24T04:54:57Z")
I hadn’t heard of Mary Vincent before. Good Lord, that story is nightmare fuel. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/39 "2017-06-24T05:46:28Z")
I’ve seen a good number of people hitching around here - usually on the freeway on-ramp trying to get to Portland or points further south. I’ve never picked any of them up, but I assume someone must be doing so. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210/40 "2017-06-24T13:36:21Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > 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) Others have said it, but I will still put my version of the answer in. There are two main elements to this question: reality, and perception. The explosion of communications technology has caused lots of things to happen in the perception arena. It has been expanded by the cultural shift in what is seen as being okay to talk about openly. The combination makes it difficult to accurately measure whether the reality arena has seen a change or not. One of the most destructive and irresponsible results of the censorship of unpleasant or discomforting things which used to rule the news, has been that it hid the bad behavior of very horrible people. That made the “old days” appear to be a lot better than they really were. I don’t know that it’s safer now than before. I know that around my area, hitchhiking has gone down so much, the fact that hitchhiking related crimes are down, doesn’t mean that it’s safer. There’s no reason that it SHOULD be safer, if you think about the actual actions involved. Hitchhiking consists of someone making a decision based on a few seconds appraisal of a complete stranger with a vehicle, and vice versa. None of the changes in technology or information changes how impossible it is to make such a decision reliably. There are still people disappearing from the streets, without attention from the mass media. It may even be true, that the explosion of media COMPETITION, has meant that FEWER examples of such disappearances are being reported, because they are happening to “little” people who wont draw commercially viable attention to the news businesses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-safer-to-hitchhike-in-the-us-back-in-the-days/787210.md?page=3)