Hitch hickers

It would be nice to have have somebody to talk on your travels but, just be very very careful.


Cheers

Merv

Dave

For non remote areas:
I used to, quite often, on my many Sydney to/from trips to Melbourne. That was before 1980. Have not since and wont. On purely a safety issue.

In remote areas:
It is on a case by case thing. Very hard question to answer in that case. Maybe if they were broken down I would call for some help to come and get them and either wait for help to arive or leave them with their car (with water is needed).

But still very much safety conscious especially if I have my wife or company with me.

I will also be interested in what others say.

Absolutely not if they have been drinking. No way. And that's not an anti drink thing. Continue and call the local constabulary from just down the road and out of sight in case the rest are hiding in the bush. Heard of that happening.

None of the above is affected by race or skin colour. Just playing it safe. Isn't horrible how we, well me, if that's what you want, have become. I used to enjoy the company. Oh well!

Phil

I picked up a guy when the temp was in the high 30's. felt sorry for him.

Won't do it again.....he stunk due from the heat.

Brett....

Not unless they have an " ExplorOz" sticker stuck to their forehead :-)

Only in remote areas if they need help or someone hitching a ride who has a broken down vehicle but the regular hitch hiker travelling around the country I'd say no because most are just taking advantage of peoples generosity to bludge a ride from so they can travel around the country for free so they can spend their money partying eg; backpackers.

Check out thread 101234

Maybe look at it from the other point of view. How safe would you feel if you and maybe your wife were broken down and needed a lift. Would you carefully check out the occupants of the car that stopped for you?

Cheers
Pop

Depends on where and when , out our way if you see a vehicle on the side of the road we slow right down to see if they are in need of assistance ,we don't actually get / see many hitch hikers nowadays..

Usually pick them up. Good Samaritan at heart.

Never stop for grey nomads. Old, smelly, talkative.

Gday,
Hich Hikers......I wouldn't normally pick them up. I have when Ive got talking to them in the pub or something and they seemed alright, but pulling over for someone standing on the road you have no idea about isn't something I would do. A lot of the ones I see are ferals who would rather spend their dole check on pot and 2 minute noodles than fuel....I don't like the idea of funding their holiday around Aus or moving them to the next social security office....LOL
Yes I know there not all bludgers but there is something about dirty dread locks, men wearing bloody dresses and no shirts that doesnt tempt me to pull over......

People broken down........Normally.....unless its a car load of drunken blackfellas or something really didn't look right about the situation.

Just asses the risk and make your own judgment at the time....not a rule to pick them up , or don't.


Cheers

i was surprised to to see that very few hitchhikers when i moved to broken Hill we often travel to Mildura or Wagga Wagga and Adelaide and have not seen any times have changed a lot many trucking companies ban the drivers picking up hitchhikers

I am sure there are some out there but nothing like 40 50 years ago times are changing

I've picked up my share of backpackers - haven't seen any for ages though. Worst was a pair of yanks who proceeded to tell me how utterly crap my cortina was? Didn't end well for them.

Just be aware that hitchhiking and stopping them up is actually an offence.....

If they look like John Jarret leave them where you found them.

The best person to ask about this would be Ivan Milat !



Cheers

Gazz

as someone else said, broken down as opposed to hitching

Broken down-always unless there appears some specific danger

Hitching-always if there is room and they have made an effort, i.e clean and not sucking on a gasper and obviously a traveller. Once again barring obvious dangers, and a little more hesitant about pairs of males I guess.

As someone said above, how times have changed. I hitched all over the US, Ireland and New Zealand in the 80's.
Met thousands of people both wierd and wonderful, had untold good times and hospitality sometimes from those with next to nothing to give away, made a couple of friends that Im still in contact with now and only a couple of scary experiences one of which was a copper ironically.

When we are touring we don't have the room, but otherwise we have picked up young European backpackers (oh yes, the armpits - but at least they have been walking not sitting waiting for the world to pick them up) or anyone broken down. As a woman if travelling alone I do not normally pick up hitchhikers. A breakdown or accident is different and I have also hitched lifts in these circumstances.

As you are alone, perhaps make it a rule that you will only pick up single travellers not two or three. These young travellers do make interesting travel companions.

Motherhen

50 years ago no problem , today I type NO , those 2 letters should be red text size 72.
I wouldn't stop for anyone standing alone out on any highway , of course there are situations like accidents where one should check out the situation .

.

Don't pick them up if they look like they smell. It doesn't take much for a hitch hiker to have a wash and put on some clean(ish) clothes, it is respectful. I always tried to be clean when hitching, difficult when finishing a week of walking through the mountains but I always keep a clean set of clothes just for this purpose.

But on a more serious note, try not to forget hitching and picking up hitchers is illegal in most states of Australia, if not all of them now, and there is a very good reason for this. It is for both driver's and hitcher's safety. If you see someone who obviously needs help like a breakdown, a bushwalker trying to get back into town or where they parked their car at the beginning of the walk, people travelling through/to places without public transport options, if it is me with my thumb out then of course you pull over. I'm a walker, I don't hitch unless I have no other option.

I pick up hitchers often when I'm travelling long distances. They are usually international backpackers. I enjoy listening to the story of their lives, especially the young ones offering their youthful philosophies acquired through a year on a working visa :)

I do not bother picking up anyone who stands where it is difficult to pull over, not smiling, wearing rags, can't see their face or carrying firearms, although I will almost always stop for someone who is walking in the direction of travel, not just sitting on their pack waiting.

I write a text into my phone about the pick up, or if I'm hitching I will write in the rego and make/model of the car and location and time, just for my own safety. Most people I give a lift to I will also buy them a meal, show them a great lookout or "big" icon and take a selfie with them and post to facebook. Also a safety thing but I end up feeling like a friend by the time I drop them off at their destination or a suitable place to catch another lift onwards.

As a hitcher I have met some amazing people and heard some unbelievable stories. Often drivers will speak to me as if I'm their therapist and I'm okay with that because sometimes all someone needs to do to start feeling better is talk about their troubles.
I have been picked up by police who understood I had no option because there was no public transport. In fact, one trip, from uni back home, a highway patrol officer picked me up and then when he was nearing the end of his zone he called ahead and arranged for a patrol vehicle from the next area to meet us and transfered me to the end of their zone where I had to hitch through a national park. That was fun, sitting in the front of the patrol car reminded me of when i was in the police and for a very brief moment i missed it.

What a selfish bunch you all are! As pop2jocem said, have a think from the other person's perspective. You make judgements on that hiker standing on the side of the road based solely on how they look, but have no idea the reasons for them standing the looking for a lift.
I see a lot of you playing the "safety" card, so have a think about this. Say you pick someone up and 10kms down the road they pull a knife and tell you to pull over, they want your car. Their knife is maybe 6 inches long, but you are in control of a 2.5 tonne vehicle travelling at 100km p/hr. Which is more deadly?
I pick hikers up because they're just people trying to get from point A to point B

I once picked up a lone old bloke on the edge of town (NSW side of the border). It was 40+ degrees and he wanted to go to the next town (Vic side of the border) where I'd been living for about 3 weeks. How much trouble could a lone old bloke pose?!
He eyed off my loose coins and pocketed them when I said it was all I had. He wanted somewhere to stay...even though I now lived in Vic I still had NSW plates so I told him I was just going to the such-&-such store and I knew no-one in town... I was only driving my little bomby 120Y coupe so I was hardly looking like rich pickings but he took my loose change anyway!
Had troubles convincing him to get out at the pub and ask around in there for what he needed. Thought I was going to get a house guest for 2 months or something!!
But 5 years later, hubby and I were driving home from holidays (midnight and on lonely stretch of country road) After a 15 hour drive, we were less than 100km from home and had just been discussing people "staging" a scenario and would we stop...10 minutes later passed a Hiace van on its side and a woman waving us down.
Gut instinct said that it was either a pretty elaborately "staged scenario" or real!
We stopped. Damn that road was dark and lonely!
She'd dodged a mob of roos only 5 minutes before and had almost kept control of the van until her load shifted...!
Hubby climbed into van from upper door to find her purse in all the van's jumbled contents and we went to the nearest town for help from the NRMA.
2 different cases.
You'd think the old bloke would be harmless-I thought I wasn't going to get him to leave!
Stopping on an isolated Riverina road at midnight? But our gut instinct said everything was for real.
No-one can give you advice on what to do and what not to do because every case is different.
There is no hard and fast answer. Just gut instinct.

:)

Picking up hitchhikers is illegal in W.A. So that's at least 3 states it's illegal in. There may be more.
I only pick up hitchhikers if it appears they are in trouble with their vehicle. I've had too many hitchhikers who expect you to have room for their 3 suitcases, plus their enormous backpack.

None of the professional hitchhikers ever offer to make a contribution towards your fuel.
It's like - "you've got a car, and I haven't, so I'm entitled to ride for free in your car".
Then there's always the personality/character question. Who knows if you're aren't picking up a prison escapee who just jumped the fence?
You have to make a snap judgement on someone you do not know in the slightest.
The risk isn't worth it in this day and age. Airfares and bus fares are cheap, there's no need for anyone to hitchhike unless they're a professional bludger.

Who remembers the Abos who would always put a single bloke or girl out on the road? - and as soon as you stopped - another 10 would pile out of the bushes, wanting a ride, too!
Known a few blokes with utes who got caught like that! LOL
One old Jew woolbuyer thought he'd give some Abos a ride on his ute, once. They jumped up on the back - and while they were up there, they kicked a bale of wool off!! LOL
He was SPEWING!! He hated Abos with a vengeance for the rest of his life after that episode!! LOL
Mind you, the Abos never hitchhike today - they drive better cars than us poor whiteys! LOL

Another bloke I knew, had a beautiful, near-new '52 Chev ute that he was so proud of. He picked up a hitchhiker - the hitchhiker threw his bag in the middle of the bench seat - and then the hitchhiker promptly proceeded to put his feet on the dashboard!!

Pud was furious, and thought about what to do. He pulled up in a screech of brakes and said to the hitchhiker - "Would you mind getting out for a minute?" The hitchhiker was puzzled, but got out - then Pud booted the blokes bag out onto the road, and drove off! LOL

I hitched once and the lift I got put me off for life.

Always said I would never pick up a hitcher. Then one day that changed. I had my wife and 3yr old daughter in the shortie Patrol and was coming down from Charlotte Pass toward Perisher. It was January but pouring rain and freezing cold.

I spotted 5 guys carrying huge packs. They were not asking for a lift, just head down marching toward their destination.

Having walked in similar circumstances I couldn't drive past.

They piled their packs on the roof, and squeezed in wherever they could and I drove them down to Perisher where they thanked me profusely and left. I was genuinely pleased to be able to help.

Years later I saw the car in front of me spin and spear off into the bush. We were 40k east of Broken Hill, it was late at night and I had only my three kids with me. The oldest was learning to drive. My initial thought was to give the guy a lift into town but an inner voice told me to be careful.

The guy turned out to be drunk, disgustingly smelly and offensive. Had he walked to the side of the road I would almost certainly have pulled up beside him and offered a lift. As it was I left him there drove into town and reported it to the Police.

They are two different stories. I would never give a lift to someone who was simply stationed at the side of the road with a hand out. But would I stop for hitchers again? Depends on a whole bunch of stuff.

Duncs

I used too, until I gave a bloke a ride from Phillip Island to Cranbourne, about an hour for people who don't know the area, so he was told where I was turning off, so we come to the drop off and he said can you please drop me further up the road and I said look mate its not raining etc and its 10 minutes out of my way but I did it, then he said I need you to drive me another 20 minutes up the road again, I pulled over and said that's it hop out, and he refused, so I said mate if I have to unbuckle my seat belt and rip you out my bloody car you'll come off second best, another gf word, right so as I unbuckled my seat belt opened my door and as I was ready to run around and drag him out he got out,I said so that's the Thanks I get for driving you all the way here and going out of my way, your an a-hole and I got into my vehicle and drove off.

Funny thing a couple of months later I see him hitch hiking again so I pulled over up the road a bit and just as he got to the vehicle I drove off with a wave out the Window, guess karma finally caught up with him. So now everyone miss's out, I pick no one up.