The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in the US

History ^ | July 17, 2025 | John Friedman

[DoodleBob]

It was once all too common to drive down a two-lane highway and spot a stranger on the side of the road, thumb out, a bag slung over their shoulder or resting by their side.

During the Great Depression, jobless Americans thumbed rides from strangers as they traveled far and wide in search of opportunity. Amid World War II, picking up a hitchhiking soldier became a patriotic duty. The practice later became associated with the hippie lifestyle of the counterculture movement—a chance to break free from the status quo.

“For quite a number of decades, it was not considered a particularly dangerous thing to do,” says Ginger Strand, author of Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate. “It was simply a way of sharing resources.”

….

In the 1960s and '70s, enforcement of stricter state laws and local ordinances sought to regulate or limit hitchhiking, and federal law enforcement agencies began actively warning about its dangers. One FBI poster depicted a well-dressed hitchhiker and informed motorists that a stranger could be a “friendly traveler or a vicious murderer.” In reality, Reid says, “It was less about hitchhiking and more about, how do we get rid of this countercultural presence?”

By the mid-1970s, hitchhiking began to decline in the United States, …Stopping and pulling over was suddenly more dangerous. All the while, the counterculture movement was dying down.

…

It didn’t help hitchhiking’s cause that a few high-profile murder cases involving hitchhikers became media sensations, and the warnings proliferated. At the same time, the high way killer quickly became a common trope in American culture, Strand says.

“It becomes a theme in movies,” Strand says. “Before that, hitchhiking was typically only used in Hollywood movies as a meet-cute. Then it becomes a way of introducing mayhem.”

[RitchieAprile]

Last time I picked up a HH was in northern Israel , a young Golani troop returning to base from home leave.

[goodnesswins]

When I was 17 I worked in Yellowstone Park. To get around you needed to hitchhike. One day four of us started out, and a couple with a young daughter picked us up. We ALL got in (not a station wagon) and they took us a long ways south in the park. Getting back was not as much fun. We split up into two’s...our two got picked up by 2 guys. It started raining and the driver starts saying “I like driving fast in the rain”...I was NOT liking the ride at all...we got out soon after. Oh, and once we were told by other park employees that when we got into one car, there was a mama bear and 2 cubs RIGHT below our pick up place. Never hitchiked again after Yellowstone.

[lastchance]

My late husband hitchhiked cross country about a year after he was graduated from high school. That would have been around 1972/73. He kept in touch with his parents and he would let them know his general whereabouts. They would correspond by sending mail to the general delivery at the nearest post office. He only had a couple of wrong rides.

Years later his younger sister (who is 9 years his junior and the baby of the family) told us she was going to do the same thing. I told her that her mom and dad would no way let her hitchhike to Miami let alone cross country. She was taken aback and asked why. My response, “Because you’re a girl.” She was very indignant and insisted her parents had always treated them equally and she was sure they would approve. I told her to go ahead and ask them (they were on vacation at the time) when they got back. Next time I saw her I asked her how that conversation went. “They said no!”, I tried to act surprised.

[Inyo-Mono]

I can’t remember the last time I saw a hitchhiker.

I see it all the time in my small mountain town, hitchhiking backpackers, looking for a ride to the trailhead.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

Far too many cannibals on the roads these days.

[Falconspeed]

In the 1950s my uncle would hitchhike from Los Angeles to Yosemite to go rock climbing. In 1980 I hitchhiked and got propositioned by a gay freak. The cool activity of hitchhiking was destroyed by sick freaks who reject prayer and counseling.

[Iron Munro]

My buddies and I thumbed all over my home area of villages and small cities starting around 11 to 12 years old.
People were not afraid to pick up hitchhikers back then and we almost always got rides - eventually.
Many times from women (moms and grandmoms) driving alone.

I always swore that when I was old enough to drive and had a car that I would pick up hitchhikers and I did for many years.

But eventually the growing culture of hate, resentment and violence inculcated by leftist politicians and their acolytes
pushing identity politics made it too dangerous to pick up strangers and I stopped giving rides to hitch-hikers.

[Carry_Okie]

In the late 60s and early 70s San Francisco I hitched everywhere I wanted to go. Point Reyes on the weekends, Yosemite in summer. The best place for the latter was University Ave in Berkeley.

[NonValueAdded]

It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw

[MachIV]

I’m 59 and I agree. There has never been a time in my life where I thought hitchhiking was anything but a way to end up dieing some horrible death never to be heard from again either as a hitchhiker or more specifically as a motorist.

[Does so]

Well south of Jacksonville in 1962 I crashed my car and had no way to get home. However, I knew my Dad would be driving soon on the same 2-lane road. I stuck out my thumb and smiled when I saw his maroon VW beetle approaching.

He drove right by me!

[Does so]

That poisoning of Tylenol case appeared to signal the end of mutual trust that Americans had of one another.

The slide coincided with the decline in Capital Punishment...

[fella]

Hitch-hiked during the late 60’s and early 70’s in deep redneck Arkansas and met lots of friendly and interesting people. Then hitch-hiked Holland, Britain, Belguim and Germany also in the early 70’s same kind of people. As I moved up the financal scale gave rides to people into the 80’s until family filled the car.

[fella]

Hitch-hiked during the late 60’s and early 70’s in deep redneck Arkansas and met lots of friendly and interesting people. Then hitch-hiked Holland, Britain, Belguim and Germany also in the early 70’s same kind of people. As I moved up the financal scale gave rides to people into the 80’s until family filled the car.

[Excellence]

I picked up a serviceman who was trying to get back to base. When we got to the gate he said, “you can drop me off here.” I said, “that’s ok, I’ll take you in.” OMG, the fear in his eyes! But I had one of those stickers on the car (my boyfriend’s) so not only did I get through, but I got a sharp salute on the way in. OMG, the double fear in his eyes! I dropped him off and left. Good times.

[alexander_busek]

I asked how he broke into prison.

I would have used a shovel, and dug a tunnel into the prison. Or maybe disguised myself as a guard and just walked in.

I can just see myself, telling my colleagues in the break room down at the Municipal Public Library: "Tonight's the night! It's on! Who else has got the guts to join me?"

Regards,

[Red6]

I doubt that.

More “stranger danger” over exaggeration.

“Stranger danger” has helped contribute to all sort of other issues in my opinion. Kids should be playing on the streets and not have a fat gut sitting before a game console!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psp9cj9LsQs Goofy today, people took this really seriously back then and parents wouldn’t even let their kids play any more on the street or playground, unless they were there.

I bet, if you really did some real statistical analysis of hitchhiking, you’d see it’s fairly safe.

The media, law enforcement, and politicians are always looking for a cause/problem to fix. They are literally looking for an issue, even if they have to make one up (global warming) or blow things out of proportion (Covid, over exaggerate the mortality rate 100 TIMES, .2% became 20%!!!).

I think, you should be smart about it. But it’s generally safe.

I think, I have probably in my life picked up someone 3 times or so. I generally don’t do it, but sometimes I guess I feel charitable. Never had an issue. But granted, 3 cases isn’t a big statistical population.

Besides, you never know when you or a spouse is in a $hitty situation. My wife has had someone stop and help her with a flat.

The one I get upset about is the gas station pity game, where they come up and basically lie about needing gas and want money.

[alexander_busek]

and had to make a sign that basically would make people understand I wasn’t an axe-murderer

"I SWEAR I'M NOT AN AXE-MURDERER!"

Yeah, that should have done the trick!

Regards,

[Red6]

Government is always looking for a problem to solve.

Politicians need an issue.

The bureaucracy wants to justify its budget.

The news media likes controversy and anything that grabs peoples attention.

All of this helps fuel the nonsense we have with saving the spotted owl, whales, baby seals, polar bears, coming ice age, global warming, ozone hole, climate change (second rebranding), DDT, Amazon rain forest, acid rain, shortage of potable water, running out of space for trash, global over population... Environmentalism tends to be an area where you see this a lot.

Both sides of the political spectrum do this.

Government is simply put, always on the lookout for a problem to solve, and they almost always make things WORSE!

From censoring music to school lunches, when government gets their idiot fingers in it, things get stupid.

That is why I personally, but many disagree, like that Trump stayed mostly “hands off” with AI and getting government heavily involved in regulating it.

[Bullish]

I used to hitchhike all over the place. Wouldn’t think of it nowdays.