Hitchhiking

Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing or hitching, autostop) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle. A ride is usually, but not always free.

Itinerants have also used hitchhiking as a primary mode of travel for the better part of the last century, and continue to do so today.^[1][2]

Signaling method

The hitchhikers' methods of signaling to drivers differ around the world. Many hitchhikers use various hand signals.

If the hitchhiker wishes to indicate that they need a ride, they may simply make a physical gesture or display a written sign. In North America, United Kingdom and most of Europe, the gesture involves extending the hitchhiker's arm toward the road and sticking the thumb of their outstretched hand upward with the hand closed.

For example, in the U.S. and UK, they point their thumb up. In some African countries, the hand is held still with the palm facing upwards. In other parts of the world, it is more common to use a gesture where the index finger is pointed at the road.

Legal status

Hitchhiking is a historically common (self-policed) practice worldwide and hence there are very few places in the world where laws exist to restrict it. However, a minority of countries have laws that restrict hitchhiking at certain locations.^[3] In the United States, for example, some local governments have laws outlawing hitchhiking, on the basis of drivers' and hitchhikers' safety. In 1946, New Jersey arrested and imprisoned a hitchhiker, leading to intervention by the American Civil Liberties Union.^[4] In Canada, several highways have restrictions on hitchhiking, particularly in British Columbia and the 400-series highways in Ontario. In all countries in Europe, it is legal to hitchhike, and in some places even encouraged. However, worldwide, even where hitchhiking is permitted, laws forbid hitchhiking where pedestrians are banned, such as the Autobahn (Germany), Autostrade (Italy), motorways (United Kingdom and continental Europe), or interstate highways (United States), although hitchhikers often obtain rides at entrances and truck stops where it is legal at least throughout Europe.^[5][6]

Decline

Graeme Chesters and David Smith discuss reasons for hitchhiking's decline in Britain, and possible means of reviving it in safer and more organised forms, in one of the few academic discussions of hitchhiking, "The Neglected Art of Hitch-hiking: Risk, Trust and Sustainability".^[7]

In the recent years, hitchhikers themselves have started seeing effort to strengthen the hitchhiking community. One example is the annual Hitchgathering – an event organized by the hitchhikers, for the hitchhikers. There now are websites like hitchwiki and hitchbase, which are platforms for hitchhikers to share tips and provide a way of looking up good hitchhiking spots around the world.

Safety

Wikivoyage has some tips for safe hitchhiking.

Very little data is available regarding the safety of hitchhiking.^[8] Compiling good safety data requires counting hitchhikers, counting rides, and counting problems: a difficult task.^[9]

Two studies on the topic include a 1974 California Highway Patrol study and a 1989 German federal police study.^[8] The California study found that hitchhikers were not disproportionately likely to be victims of crime.^[10] The German study concluded that the actual risk is much lower than the publicly perceived risk, and the authors did not advise against hitch-hiking in general.^[11] They found that in some cases there were verbal disputes and inappropriate comments, but physical attacks were very rare.^[12]

Recommended safety practices include:^[13]

• Asking for rides at gas stations instead of signaling at the roadside.
• Trusting one's instincts.
• Refusing rides from impaired drivers.
• Hitchhiking during daylight hours.

Around the world

Cuba

In Cuba, picking up hitchhikers is mandatory by government vehicles, if passenger space is available. Hitchhiking is encouraged, as there are few cars, and designated hitchhiking spots are used. Waiting riders are picked up on a first come first go basis.^[14]

Nepal

In Nepal, hitchhiking is very common in rural areas. Many do not own cars so hitchhiking is a common practice especially in and around villages.

Israel

In Israel, hitchhiking is commonplace at designated locations called trempiyadas (טרמפיאדה in Hebrew, derived from the German trampen). Travelers soliciting rides, called trempists, wait at trempiyadas, typically junctions of highways or main roads outside of a city.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, hitchhiking is legal and there are official signs where one may wait for a ride. These designated hitchhiking locations are called liftershalte or liftplaats in Dutch, and they are particularly common in university towns.^[15][16]

Poland

Hitchhiking was legalised and formalised in Poland in 1957. Hitchhikers could buy booklets including coupons from travel agencies.^[17] These coupons were given to drivers who took hitchhikers. By the end of each season drivers who collected the highest number of coupons could exchange them for prizes and others took part in a lottery. This so-called "Akcja Autostop" was popular till the end of the 1970s, but the sale of the booklet was discontinued in 1995.^[18]

United States

Hitchhiking became a common method of traveling during the Great Depression.

But warnings of the potential dangers of picking up hitchhikers were publicized to drivers, who were advised that some hitchhikers would rob the driver who picked them up, and in some cases murder them. Other warnings were publicized to the hitchhikers themselves, alerting them to the same types of crimes being carried out by drivers. Still, hitchhiking was part of the American psyche and many people continued to stick out their thumbs, even in states where the practice had been outlawed.^[19]

Today, hitchhiking is legal in 44 of the 50 states, provided that the hitchhiker is not standing in the roadway or otherwise hindering the normal flow of traffic. Even in states where hitchhiking is illegal, hitchhikers are rarely ticketed. For example, the Wyoming Highway Patrol approached 524 hitchhikers in 2010, but only cited eight of them (hitchhiking was subsequently legalized in Wyoming in 2013).^[20]

In popular culture

Film

1934 – It Happened One Night 1937 – Way Out West 1945 – Detour 1953 – The Hitch-Hiker 1963 – It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 1967 – Two for the Road 1971 - Podróż za jeden uśmiech (eng. The travel for one smile) - The popular polish series 1973 – Breezy 1974 – The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1977 – Hitch-Hike 1981 – Roadgames 1983 – Going Back 1985 – Pee-wee's Big Adventure 1985 – The Sure Thing 1986 – The Hitcher 1989 – Kiki's Delivery Service 1990 – Nouvelle Vague 1994 – Dumb and Dumber 1994 – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues 1998 – Something About Mary

2000 – Duets 2000 – O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2001 – 3000 Miles to Graceland 2001 – Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2003 – The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting 2003 – Suburban Virgin 2003 – The Haunted Mansion 2004 – EuroTrip 2004 – Crash 2004 – Riding the Bullet 2005 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 2007 – The Hitcher 2007 – Mr. Bean's Holiday 2007 – Into the Wild 2007 – Have Dreams, Will Travel 2008 – The Yellow Handkerchief 2012 – The Angels' Share 2013 – Man of Steel 2013 - Inside Llewyn Davis

Literature

• 1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, opens with a hitched ride.
• 1957 – Jack Kerouac immortalized hitchhiking in his book, On the Road.
• 1971 – Ken Welsh's "how to" book on hitchhiking around Europe, titled Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe, is rumored to have inspired the title of Douglas Adams' 1978 classic book.
• 1973 – Kurt Vonnegut's perpetual protagonist, Kilgore Trout, hitchhikes halfway across the country in Breakfast of Champions (also known as Goodbye Blue Monday).
• 1976 – Sissy Hankshaw, the protagonist of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins, becomes legendary as a hitchhiker in part because of her unusually large thumbs.
• 1977 – "The Hitch-Hiker", by Roald Dahl
• 1978 – In his cult classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (first broadcast on radio in 1978), Douglas Adams postulated on interstellar hitchhiking.
• 1984 – Science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein described interdimensional hitchhiking in his book Job: A Comedy of Justice.
• 1996 – Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• 2001 – Round Ireland with a Fridge by British comedian Tony Hawks: hitchhiking around Ireland with a refrigerator, as a result of a drunken bet.
• 2003 – Evasion by CrimethInc.
• 2003 – Off The Map by Hibikina Chickena and Kika Kat
• 2005 – No Such Thing As A Free Ride? is a comprehensive anthology of hitchhiking stories and viewpoints, serialized in The Times and named The Observer's Travel Book of the Week. Edited by Tom Sykes and Simon Sykes, it featured contributions from Mike Leigh, Sir Alan Parker, Sir Max Hastings, Tony Hawks and Eric Burdon, amongst others. In 2008, No Such Thing As A Free Ride? North American Edition was published by Goose Lane of Canada and featured JP Donleavy, Margaret Avison, Doug Stanhope, Jeff Lewis and Will Durst, amongst others.
• 2006 – Riding With Strangers: A Hitchhiker's Journey by Elijah Wald
• 2007 – The Hitcher by Chris Coekin: A photographic book, part fact part fiction based upon Coekin's adventures hitching around the UK with a camera.
• 2009 – Iranian Rappers & Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker's Adventures in the New Iran details some of British author Jamie Maslin's exploits on the road.
• 2009 – Le Monde en stop by Ludovic Hubler
• 2013 – The Last American Hitch-Hiker: Tales of Wander by Mark Dean Kneeskern.
• 2013 - The Adventures of Space and Hobo by Ken Birks

Music

1936 – "Cross Road Blues" – Robert Johnson 1941 – "Barstow" – Harry Partch 1962 – "Hitch Hike" – Marvin Gaye 1968 – "America" – Simon and Garfunkel 1969 – "Hitchin' a Ride" – Vanity Fare 1970 – "Ridin' Thumb" Seals and Crofts – Down Home 1970 – "Hitchhikin' Woman" – Warren Zevon 1971 – "Riders on the Storm" –The Doors 1971 – "The Hitchhikers' Song" – Joan Baez, on Blessed Are... 1971 – "Me and Bobby McGee" – Kris Kristofferson 1972 – "Black-Throated Wind" – Grateful Dead 1972 – "Sweet Hitch Hiker" –Creedence Clearwater Revival 1972 – "Take It Easy" – Jackson Browne 1973 – "Chevy Van" – Sammy Johns 1973 – "Ridin' My Thumb to Mexico" – Johnny Rodriguez 1974 – "West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown" – Jimmy Buffett 1975 – "Jo and the Cowboy" – Johnny Duncan and Janie Fricke

1976 – "Coyote" – Joni Mitchell 1976 – "Hitch a Ride" – Boston 1977 – "Rockaway Beach" – Ramones 1984 – "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking" – Roger Waters 1997 – "Hitchin' a Ride" – Green Day 2001 – "Wagon Wheel" – Old Crow Medicine Show 2001 – "101 North" – Tomahawk 2002 – "Thumbing My Way" – Pearl Jam 2002 – "Blue Sunday" – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 2003 – "Lost Dogs" – Pearl Jam 2004 – "Wagon Wheel" – Old Crow Medicine Show 2006 – "Hitch Hikin' Music" – Classified 2006 – "Leaving Beirut" – Roger Waters 2008 – "The Backseat" – The Gaslight Anthem 2011 – "Hitchhiker" – Neil Young 2011 – "Paradise" – Coldplay 2013 – "Hitchhiking" – SHINee

Television

• 1960 – "Hitch-Hike", an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents based on a short story by Ed Lacy
• 1960 – "The Hitch-Hiker", an episode of The Twilight Zone
• 1981 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV Series)
• 1984 – Diff'rent Strokes, a two-part very special episode, "The Hitchhikers"
• 1999 – SpongeBob SquarePants – "Pizza Delivery"
• 2000 – "The Hitch-hiker", an episode of the Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)
• 2003 – Cold Case (TV series) episode 1.10, "Hitchhiker", addresses similar murders of hitchikers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey
• 2004 – The L Word, 'Losing it"
• 2006 – The Masters of Horror episode, "Pick Me Up"
• 2007 – Peking Express, a Dutch/Flemish reality game show that follows a series of couples as they hitchhike to or from Beijing (in seasons 1–3) and South America (in seasons 4 and 5).

Notable hitchhikers

• Joe Bennett – New Zealand newspaper columnist and author, hitchhiked around the world for 10 years.^[21]
• Patrick Falterman American itinirant, canoeist, adventurer
• Ilmar Island (Saar) – last and only hitchhiker recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for hitching between Key West, Florida to Fairbanks, Alaska. (5 days, 20 hours and 52 minutes). Category only appeared once.^[22]
• André Brugiroux – France. Hitchhiked all around the world for 18 years, 1955 to 1973.
• Alan Carter – last hitchhiker recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for the Land's End to John O'Groats to Land's End round-trip. (39 hours 28 minutes)
• Martin Clark and Graham Beynon – last hitchhikers recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for the Land's End to John O'Groats trip. (17 hours 8 minutes)
• David Choe – painter, muralist, graffiti artist and graphic novelist
• W. H. Davies – a Welsh poet and tramp, who hitchhiked America during the early 20th century.
• Kenny Flannery – hitchhiked hundreds or thousands of miles across the US and other parts of the world from 2007–2013. Has promoted the means of travel through stories and videos on his "Hobo Lifestyle" site and YouTube.^[23]
• hitchBOT – a Canadian hitchhiking robot^[24]
• Ludovic Hubler – a French hitchhiker who toured the world entirely by hitchhiking from January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2008. He wrote a book called Le Monde en stop, which was awarded the best travel book of the year 2009 in France.
• Jack Kerouac – Beat Generation author, hitchhiked in America and wrote many books about his experience.
• Suzanne MacNevin – a feminist writer, spent several years hitchhiking in Canada and the United States during the late 1990s.^[25]
• Chris McCandless – the subject of the book, Into the Wild; hitchhiked throughout the western region of North America in the early 1990s.
• Jack Moran & Jack Avery – hitchhiked over 20,000 miles in North America between 1970-1977, authors of the upcoming, "When You Needed Something To Happen, It Happened".
• Jim Morrison – of The Doors; is also depicted hitchhiking in his movie HWY: An American Pastoral.
• Robert Prins – last hitchhiker recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for the 24-hour hitchhiking record. (2,318.4 km)
• Stephan Schlei – from Ratingen, Germany; hitchhiked more than 621,371 mi (1,000,000 km). The Guinness Book of Records, before all hitchhiking records were removed, used to say that he was the World's No.1 Hitchhiker.^[26]
• Tim Shey – hitchhiked the United States from 1996 to 2015. He also did some hitchhiking in the western United States in 1986–1987 and in Ireland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales in 1980-1981. Shey wrote two books: High Plains Drifter: A Hitchhiking Journey Across America (2008) and The First Time I Rode a Freight Train & Other Hitchhiking Stories (2012).^[27]
• Devon Smith – was listed in Guinness Book of World Records for most cumulative miles hitchhiked (1973 to 1985), over 290,988 mi (468,300 km). He also held the record for hitchhiking all 48 contiguous U.S. states in 33 days during 1957.^[28]
• Andrzej Stasiuk – writer, journalist and literary critic^[29]
• Juan Pablo Villarino – Argentinean hitchhiker who travels the world documenting hospitality. His book Vagabundeando en el eje del Mal (Vagabonding in the Axis of Evil – By thumb in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan), was published in Spain, Argentina and Ecuador. He is the founder of Autostop Argentina, and regularly writes for National Geographic VIAJES. His Educational Nomadic Project was shortlisted among the 50 most influential educational related travel enterprise by Matador Network.
• Nedd Willard – writer, artist and journalist.

Fictional characters

• Ford Prefect – a space-hitchhiking travel writer in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• Hitchhiker – a hitchhiking lunatic killer played by actor Edwin Neal in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre film (1974)
• The Hitcher – a green cockney man who was featured in The Mighty Boosh

See also

• Carpool
• Flexible carpooling – Hitchhiking formalized via designated meeting points
• Freighthopping
• Hitchgathering – the annual event of hitchhikers
• Hitchwiki – a wiki with information about how to hitchhike in dozens of countries
• Slugging – Hitchhiking motivated by HOV lanes in several urban areas
• Real-time ridesharing – Hitchhiking facilitated by a smartphone application

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Nwanna, Dr. Gladson I. (2004). Americans Traveling Abroad: What You Should Know Before You Go, Frontier Publishers, Inc., ISBN 1-890605-10-7.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hitchhiking.

• The dictionary definition of hitchhike at Wiktionary
• Tips for hitchhiking travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Hitchhiking around the world travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Hitchhiking at DMOZ
• How to Hitchhike Across America: "Thumbs Up!" The Complete First Season

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