View source for Hitchhiking

{{Short description|Asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their road vehicle}}
{{About||the genetics term|Genetic hitchhiking|other uses of "Hitchhiker"|Hitchhiker (disambiguation)|other uses of "Hitchhike"| Hitchhike (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}

[[File:Hitchhiking worldwide 2024.png|thumb|Hitchhiking waiting times worldwide with uncertainties of estimation (2024) - based on data from [https://hitchmap.com/ Hitchmap] ]]
[[File:Walker Evans Hitchhidkers Vicksburg (vicinity) March 1936.jpg|thumb|A man and woman hitchhiking near [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], in 1936, photograph by [[Walker Evans]]]]
[[File:Alwin Tallinjpg.jpg|thumb|upright|A man with both a physical gesture and a sign]]

'''Hitchhiking''' (also known as '''hitch-hiking''', '''hitching''', '''thumbing''', and '''autostop''') is a means of transportation that relies on soliciting rides from individuals, usually strangers.  Recognized hand gestures, signage, and casual prearrangement, as in a solicitation at a rest stop, are used.

Most hitchhikes are free.  Occasionally on a longer ride the driver may request their guest chip in towards gas, or coffee and such at a break; more often than asking they will volunteer to pay for such things themselves, recognizing that a person hitchhiking probably is low on funds, and willing to do a good turn.  Casual contribution by the hitcher towards expenses does not a void a ride as a hitchhike, but arranging payment in advance, regardless of who is providing the transport, is fee-for-service, however informal.

==Signaling methods==
[[Image:Hitchhiker's gesture.jpg|thumb|left|A typical hitchhiker's gesture in Europe, North America, South America, and Australia]]

Hitchhikers use a variety of signals, typically hand gestures, or displays, including signs, to indicate they need a ride.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why Do Hitchhikers Say "(Destination)...Or Bust!"?|last=Kovalchik|first=Kara|date=9 January 2015|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/60989/why-do-hitchhikers-say-destinationor-bust|website=Mental Floss|access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref>

Common hand gestures include:
*In most of Europe, North America, South America and Australia, most hitchhikers stand with their back facing the direction of travel. The hitchhiker typically extends their arm towards the road with the thumb of the closed hand pointing upward or in the direction of vehicle travel.<ref name=":0" />

The gesture is unique to hitchhiking, and distinct from the waving display and arm motion of hailing a cab, or seeking to flag a vehicle down in an emergency. 
*In some African countries, the hitchhiker's hand is held with the palm facing upwards.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Hitchhiker's guide - what you should know? |url=https://myluggage.io/en/blog/article/hitchhiker-s-guide-what-you-should-know |date=11 August 2021 |access-date=19 August 2025 |website=myluggage.io}}</ref>

==Legality==
[[Image:US no hitchhiking signs.svg|thumb|Two of the signs used in the United States, forbidding hitchhiking]]

Hitchhiking is historically a common practice worldwide, and 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.{{sfn|Nwanna|2004|p=573}} In the United States, for example, some local governments have laws outlawing hitchhiking, on the basis of drivers' and hitchhikers' safety. In [[Canada]], several highways have restrictions on hitchhiking, particularly in [[British Columbia]] and the [[400-series highways (Ontario)|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 in places where pedestrians are banned, such as the [[Autobahn]] ([[Germany]]), [[Autostrade of Italy|Autostrade]] ([[Italy]]), [[motorway]]s (United Kingdom and continental Europe, with the exception of, at least, Lithuania) or [[Interstate Highway System|Interstate highways]] (United States), although hitchhikers often obtain rides at entrances and truck stops where it is legal, at least throughout Europe<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.stiffarmingsociety.com/hitchhiking/hitchhiking.htm| title = Hitchhiking Basics}}</ref> with the exception of Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hitchwiki.org/en/Italy|title=Italy|work=Hitchwiki|access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref>{{unreliable source|reason=User-generated wiki|date=August 2025}}

==Community==
In recent years, hitchhikers have started efforts to strengthen their community. Examples include the annual [[Hitchgathering]], an event organized by hitchhikers, for hitchhikers, and websites such as [[Hitchwiki]], which are platforms for hitchhikers to share tips and provide a way of looking up good hitchhiking spots around the world.

Hitchhiking has also seen a rise in popularity amongst travel influencers and YouTube [[Vlog|video bloggers]], who travel to obscure (by Western standards) locations like China, Central Asia, and South East Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farrell |first=Riley |date=9 August 2025 |title=The lost art of hitchhiking: What we can still learn from travel's most radical mode? |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250808-the-lost-art-of-hitchhiking |url-status=dead |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=21 August 2025 |website=BBC}}</ref> 

==Decline==
See {{section link||Safety}} below.

In 2011, ''[[Freakonomics Radio]]'' reviewed sparse data about hitchhiking, and identified a steady decline in hitchhiking in the US since the 1970s, which it attributed to a number of factors, including a greater lack of trust of strangers, lower air travel costs due to deregulation, the presence of more money in the economy to pay for travel, and more numerous and more reliable cars.<ref name=Huynh>{{cite news |last=Huynh |first=Diana |url=http://freakonomics.com/podcast/where-have-all-the-hitchhikers-gone-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ |title=Where Have All the Hitchhikers Gone? |work=Freakonomics Radio Podcast |date=10 October 2011 |access-date=21 September 2016 |archive-date=15 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915053357/http://freakonomics.com/podcast/where-have-all-the-hitchhikers-gone-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In an experiment conducted in 2025, Swedish journalist Lukas Deininger hitchhiked from [[Mo i Rana]], Norway to [[Umeå]], Sweden. The initial wait for a car passing over the [[Norway–Sweden border]] took three and a half hours, and the combined journey of  {{convert|477|km}} lasted for approximately 27 hours, including sleep.<ref>{{cite web|last=Deininger|first=Lukas|title=Här försöker SVT:s reporter lifta från Atlanten till Östersjön|url=https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vasterbotten/har-forsoker-svts-reporter-lifta-fran-atlanten-till-ostersjon|work=[[SVT Nyheter]]|trans-work=SVT News|language=sv|date=18 August 2025|access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref>

Even though the dangers of hitchhiking were graphically portrayed in much earlier "scare" movies like 1945's ''[[Detour (1945 film)|Detour]]'', in which a psychotic woman hitchhiker terrorizes another hitchhiker, and the [[serial murder]]er driven ''[[The Hitch-Hiker]]'' in 1953, the marked increase in fear of hitchhiking from the early 1970s on is the immediate impetus for movies such as ''[[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]]'' (1974), ''[[The Hitcher (1986 film)|The Hitcher]]'' (1986), and a few real incidents involving imperiled hitchhikers, including the [[kidnapping of Colleen Stan]] in California.<ref name=Huynh/> 

Some British researchers discuss reasons{{explain|date=March 2024}} for hitchhiking's decline in the UK, and possible means of reviving it in safer and more organized forms.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Sociological Research Online|volume=6|number=3 |last1=Chesters |first1=Graeme |last2=Smith |first2=David |year=2001|title='The Neglected Art of Hitch-hiking: Risk, Trust and Sustainability |pages=63–71|doi=10.5153/sro.605|s2cid=143681275|url=http://www.socresonline.org.uk/6/3/chesters.html|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Public policy support==
[[File:Mitfahrerbank Flensburg.jpg|thumb|left|''Mitfahrbank'' with destination signs in [[Flensburg]]]]

Since the mid-2010s, local authorities in rural areas in Germany have started to support hitchhiking, and this has spread to Austria and the German-speaking region of Belgium. The objectives are both social and environmental: as ride sharing improves mobility for local residents (particularly young and old people without their own cars) in places where public transport is inadequate, thus improving networking among local communities in an environmentally friendly way. This support typically takes the form of providing [[Ride-sharing bench|hitchhiking benches]] (in German {{lang|de|Mitfahrbänke}}) where people hoping for a ride can wait for cars. These benches are usually brightly coloured and located at the exit from a village, sometimes at an existing bus stop lay-by where vehicles can pull in safely. Some are even provided with large fold-out or slide-out signs with place names allowing hitchers to clearly signal where they want to go. Some ''Mitfahrbänke'' have been installed with the help of the EU's [[LEADER programme]] for rural [[local development]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.swp.de/suedwesten/landkreise/kreis-neu-ulm-bayern/nersingen-will-mitfahrbaenke-aufstellen-27322168.html |title=Projekt: Nersingen will Mitfahrbänke aufstellen |last=Frieß |first=Bianca |newspaper=Südwest Presse |language=de |date=2018-08-10 |access-date=2019-04-25 |archive-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425215900/https://www.swp.de/suedwesten/landkreise/kreis-neu-ulm-bayern/nersingen-will-mitfahrbaenke-aufstellen-27322168.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In Austria, ''Mitfahrbänke'' are especially common in [[Lower Austria]] and [[Tyrol]], and are promoted by the [[Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism]] under its ''klimaaktiv'' climate protection initiative.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.klimaaktiv.at/mobilitaet/mobilitaetsmanagem/kommunalregional/Die-Mitfahrbank.html |title=Die Mitfahrbank als unkomplizierte Mitfahrbörse für alle BürgerInnen |publisher=Österreichisches Bundesministerium für Nachhaltigkeit und Tourismus |language=de |date=2018-08-20 |access-date=2019-04-25 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929173733/https://www.klimaaktiv.at/mobilitaet/mobilitaetsmanagem/kommunalregional/Die-Mitfahrbank.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2018 the Tyrolean ''MobilitäterInnen'' ("mobility workers") network published a ''Manual for the Successful Introduction of Hitch-hiking Benches''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Handbuch für eine erfolgreiche Einführung von Mitfahrbänken |language=de |publisher=MobilitäterInnen |date=2018 |url=http://www.mobilitaeterinnen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mobilitaeter-handbuch-web.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425215859/http://www.mobilitaeterinnen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mobilitaeter-handbuch-web.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-25 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Safety==
[[File:Clyde Goes Hitchhiking.webm|right|thumb|An episode of ''[[About Safety]]'', a 1970s educational children's show, about the safety of hitchhiking]]
Limited data is available regarding the safety of hitchhiking.<ref name="dearth">{{cite web|last=Wechner |first=Bernd |title=A dearth of research: Does anyone really know anything about hitch-hiking? |url=https://bernd.wechner.info/Hitchhiking/Suite101/Article/?71 |date=1 March 2002 |access-date=19 August 2025 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Compiling good safety data requires counting hitchhikers, counting rides, and counting problems, all difficult tasks.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wechner |first=Bernd |title=The Pros and Cons of Hitch-Hiking |url=https://bernd.wechner.info/Hitchhiking/Suite101/Article/?02 |date=1 November 1996 |access-date=19 August 2025 |quote=There are no statistics on hitch-hiking, at least none that are meaningful and reliable. Compiling useful statistics would require counting hitchers and the amount of rides they receive, and comparing them to the problems reported, which would be a difficult task. |df=dmy-all |website=bernd.wechner.info}}</ref>

Two studies on the topic include a 1974 [[California Highway Patrol]] study and a 1989 German federal police (Bundeskriminalamt Wiesbaden) study.<ref name="dearth" /> The California study found that hitchhikers were not disproportionately likely to be victims of crime.<ref>{{cite news|last=McLeod |first=Jamie |title=The 'better' Better Way |url=http://theeyeopener.com/2007/01/the-better-better-way/ |access-date=3 May 2013 |newspaper=The Eyeopener |date=10 January 2007 |quote=The most recent hard evidence I could find about hitchhiking danger was a 1974 study conducted by the California Highway Patrol examining crimes committed by and on hitchhikers. It found that in 71.7 per cent of hitchhiker related crimes the hitchhiker was the victim. It also found that only 0.63 per cent of the crimes reported during the period of the study were hitchhiker-related, and that hitchhikers were not disproportionately victims of crime. }} '''Citing:''' {{cite news|title=California Crimes And Accidents Associated With Hitchhiking |url=https://bernd.wechner.info/Hitchhiking/CHP/body.html |publisher=California Highway Patrol |date=February 1974 |quote=No independent information exists about hitchhikers who are not involved in crimes. Without such information, it is not possible to conclude whether or not hitchhikers are exposed to high danger. However, the results of this study do not show that hitchhikers are over-represented in crimes or accidents beyond their numbers. |df=dmy-all }} Also available as [https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/18834NCJRS.pdf a PDF].</ref> The German study concluded that the actual risk is much lower than the publicly perceived risk; the authors did not advise against hitchhiking in general.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://prino.neocities.org/www/a-und-a/anhalterwesen-und-anhaltergefahren.html|title=Anhalterwesen und Anhaltergefahren: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des "Kurztrampens"|last=Fiedler|first=Joachim|publisher=Bundeskriminalamt Wiesbaden|year=1989|location=Wiesbaden, Germany|language=de|oclc=21676123|display-authors=etal}}</ref> They found that in some cases there were verbal disputes or inappropriate comments, but physical attacks were very rare.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.zeit.de/1990/28/trampen-ohne-grosses-risiko |title=Trampen ohne großes Risiko|website=[[Zeit Online]]|language=de|date=6 July 1990}} "In one of 10,000 rides, a woman is raped and in two of 1,000 rides, there is an attempted rape."{{verify source|reason=We need the original quote in German.|date=August 2025}}</ref>

Recommended safety practices include:<ref>{{cite web|title=Hitchhiker's safety|website=Hitchwiki|access-date= 1 January 2014|url=http://hitchwiki.org/en/Hitchhiker%27s_safety }}This is a link to the referenced article; but, note that it has not been fully peer-reviewed, and that we cannot guarantee its validity.</ref>
* Asking for rides at gas stations instead of signaling at the roadside
* Refusing rides from [[Driving under the influence|alcohol impaired drivers]]
* Hitchhiking during daylight hours
* Trusting one's instincts
* Traveling with another hitchhiker; this measure decreases the likelihood of harm by a factor of six.<ref>Based on: {{cite thesis|url=http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2428&context=etd_hon_theses#page=44 |type=BA thesis |last=Compagni Portis |first=Julian |date=2015 |title=Thumbs Down: America and the Decline of Hitchhiking |publisher=Wesleyan University |page=44 }} '''Citing:''' {{cite news|title=California Crimes And Accidents Associated With Hitchhiking |url=https://bernd.wechner.info/Hitchhiking/CHP/body.html |publisher=California Highway Patrol |at=Table 18 |df=dmy-all }} Also available as [https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/18834NCJRS.pdf a PDF].</ref>

In the UK, [[The Scout Association]] specifically lists hitchhiking as an activity not permitted at any scouting event.<ref>{{cite web|title=Policy, Organisation and Rules|url=https://www.scouts.org.uk/por/9-activities/#9.1|at=Section 9.1.1.2|publisher=[[The Scout Association]]|date=May 2025|access-date=19 August 2025}}</ref>

==Around the world==
[[File:Hitching out of Jerusalem.JPG|thumb|left|''Trempests'' in [[Jerusalem]]]]

===Cuba===
In Cuba, picking up hitchhikers is mandatory for government vehicles, if passenger space is available. Hitchhiking is encouraged, as Cuba has few cars, and hitchhikers use designated spots. Drivers pick up waiting riders on a first come, first served basis.<ref>[http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/cuba/Cuba-Hitchhiking-Guide/255 Cuba Hitchhiking Guide] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127044805/http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/cuba/Cuba-Hitchhiking-Guide/255 |date=27 November 2012 }}</ref>

===Israel===
{{main|Hitchhiking in Israel}}
In Israel, hitchhiking is commonplace at designated locations called {{transliteration|he|trempiyadas}} ({{Script/Hebrew|טרמפיאדה}} in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], derived from the [[German language|German]] {{transliteration|de|trampen}}).  Travelers soliciting rides, called {{transliteration|he|trempists}}, wait at {{transliteration|he|trempiyadas}}, typically junctions of highways or main roads outside of a city.

===Poland===
Hitchhiking in [[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]] has a long history and is still popular. It was legalised and formalised  in 1957 so hitchhikers could buy booklets including coupons from travel agencies.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.autostopem.net/g-12-ksiazeczki_autostopu_78__81.html| title = booklets| access-date = 20 October 2012| archive-date = 10 July 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100710111111/http://www.autostopem.net/g-12-ksiazeczki_autostopu_78__81.html| url-status = usurped}}</ref> 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.<ref>Czupryński, Jakub (red.), "Autostop polski. PRL i współczesność". Kraków: Korporacja Ha!art. 2005. {{ISBN|83-89911-18-3}}</ref>

===United States===
Hitchhiking became a common method of traveling during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] and during the 
[[counterculture of the 1960s]].
[[File:Slug Line.gif|thumb|left|A "[[Slugging|slug line]]" of passengers waiting for rides in the US]]
Warnings of the [[Stranger danger|potential dangers of picking up hitchhikers]] were publicized to drivers, who were advised that some hitchhikers would rob drivers and, in some cases, sexually assault or 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dooling |first=Michael C. |title=Clueless in New England: The Unsolved Disappearances of Paula Welden, Connie Smith and Katherine Hull|publisher=The Carrollton Press|year=2010}}</ref>

Today, hitchhiking is legal in 44 of the 50 states, the exceptions being [[Nevada]], [[New Jersey]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Utah]], and [[Wyoming]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hitchhiking Legal States 2025 |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/hitchhiking-legal-states |access-date=19 August 2025 |work=World Population Review}}</ref> This is 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 eight of them were cited.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hancock |first=Laura |url=http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-senate-committee-debates-advances-hitchhiking-bill/article_d18dfcdb-9125-5f9e-8201-b9eba3fedb07.html |title=Wyoming Senate committee debates, advances hitchhiking bill |newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune |date=13 January 2013 |access-date=30 May 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Murders of Jacqueline Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Mayo]] – two unsolved murders of hitchhikers in England in 1970
* [[Carpool]]
* [[Flexible carpooling]] – hitchhiking formalized via designated meeting points
* [[Freighthopping]]
* [[Hitchwiki]]
* [[Ridesharing company]]
* [[Slugging]] – hitchhiking motivated by [[high-occupancy vehicle lane]]s in several urban areas

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{bookfarm|reason=The only book here that's actually used as a source is Nwanna 2004.|date=August 2025}}
*Brunvand, Harold (1981). ''The Vanishing Hitchhiker. American Urban Legends and Their Meaning''. New York NY: Norton & Company. 
*Griffin, John H. (1961). ''[[Black Like Me]]''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
*Hawks, Tony (1996). ''[[Round Ireland with a Fridge]]''. London: Ebury. 
*Laviolette, Patrick (2016). [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00141844.2014.986149?journalCode=retn20 Why did the anthropologist cross the road? ''Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology'']. 81(3): 379–401.
*Nwanna, Gladson I. (2004). ''Americans Traveling Abroad: What You Should Know Before You Go'', Frontier Publishers, {{ISBN|1890605107}}.
*Packer, Jeremy (2008). Hitching the highway to hell: Media hysterics and the politics of youth mobility. ''Mobility Without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship''. Chapel Hill: Duke Univ. Press (77–110).
*Reid, Jack. (2020) ''Roadside Americans: The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in a Changing Nation''. Chapel Hill: Univ, of North Carolina Press. 
*Smith, David H. & Frauke Zeller (2017). The death and lives of hitchBOT: the design and implementation of a hitchhiking robot. ''Leonardo''. 50(1): 77–8.
*Sykes, Simon & Tom Sykes (2005). ''No Such Thing as a Free Ride''. UK Edition. London: Cassell Illustrated. 
*Tobar, Héctor (2020). ''The Last Great Road Bum''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
*Kabourkova, Michaela (2022). ''Solo Female Traveller: What I Learnt from Hitchhiking in 70 Countries''. Valencia: Amazon.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hitchhiking}}
{{Wikivoyage}}
* [https://hitchwiki.org/en/Main_Page Hitchwiki] Guide for hitchhikers
* [https://hitchmap.com/ Hitchmap] Hitchhiking spots on a map

{{Adventure travel|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hitchhiking| ]]
[[Category:Itinerant living]]
[[Category:Hand gestures]]
[[Category:Sustainable transport]]
[[Category:Fingers]]