Picking up hitch hikers?

[AngryBadger417]

Okay I don't know if this is the right place to post this, feel free to move it to the right place if this isn't it


Okay so I have picked up several hitch hikers in the past 5 years of driving. The first time I was with one of my best friends during a huge thunder storm and he was in my small home town so I didn't really feel like it was a big deal. The second time an old man who was visibly homeless or living on couches came up to me in a parking lot and struck up a conversation. He asked where I was heading and I told him, he asked if I could give him a lift to the bus stop that would take him go the next city over. Being the kind of guy that I am I said sure. Bad idea. It was a 25 minute drive to the bus stop and about 5 minutes into it I stop for a pack of smokes, well he goes in and gets 2 40oz bottles of malt liquor. After polishing those off he says and I quote " da** it's nice to have a window to look out of" so I ask what he means and he informs me that he just got out of prison, he served 21 years for murder and attempted murder. He tells me that he caught his wife cheating on him and that he shot her and her boy friend. I immediately pull over on the side of this back road and tell him to get out, he acts like I'm insane and rolls out of the car and takes off down the road. That was the last time I have ever picked up a stranger. ( I was 19 by the way )


So the whole point of this is to ask;

How many of you guys will pick up a hitch hiker? Does the fact that you are armed come into play when deciding of you are stopping for him? I know this is random but I just want to see what other people think

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[ccw9mm]

How many of you guys will pick up a hitch hiker? Does the fact that you are armed come into play when deciding of you are stopping for him?

No, but what seals it for me is that he is very likely to be. 'Nuff said, really.

The last time I picked up a hitchhiker was with someone I knew of in the area, someone with a known history where I could gauge the relative risk (which was practically nil, in the case of this guy). Though, he was so rancidly bad-smelling that I practically had to hose out the car and fumigate it, afterwards.

As for being armed and it affecting my decision ... I wouldn't dream of stopping if unarmed. IMO, particularly these days, that's just dumb.

A number of times in such situations, I have stopped nearby to determine if help was actually needed and could be provided in some other manner. In a few cases, I've called for appropriate assistance (cab, tow truck, police). In a few instances, such stops have resulted in clear indications the person was off his/her rocker, and that maintaining my distance and circumspection clearly helped ensure I wasn't 'jacked or assaulted (or worse).

[aus71383]

I've picked up pretty girls when I was single and driving through Canada. In the U.S.? No hitchhikers.

I broke my own rule a couple days ago though - leaving the VA hospital, gave a guy named Dave "people call me Bear" a ride home. I don't feel bad about it, and I wasn't armed.

Austin

[AngryBadger417]

I guess it all depends on the situation. My hometown has about 200 residents so odds are they either know me or my parents, that's just how it is. I didn't really get that when I moved up here for college, I realized not everybody is honest or harmless. After living here for 2 years I would never pick up a hitchhiker unless I knew them.

[Tala]

Trust my gut. Gave a guy a ride - only several blocks to a house that I knew the owner of - because it was raining, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered anyone. I wasn't armed with a gun, but it didn't matter.

Last winter, it was pretty cold, my husband (now ex) and I went to the Walmart gas station for smokes around midnight. No one was around really, no other cars and no loiterers. While my ex was inside I was keeping the truck warm - his mom's truck with a stretch cab - I watched a kid (maybe 20 at the oldest) walk up with a 1-gal antifreeze bottle and get gas. He then knocked on the truck window to ask for a ride. I told him when my husband got back he could get in. About 1/2 to 1 mile down the road to his truck. My gut said people generally don't get gas in an antifreeze bottle on foot at midnight when it's 20 degrees out unless they have to. He seemed embarressed, unlike people who make a habit of panhandling. It wouldn't have killed him to walk, but he really wasn't dressed for it - which is why I pack weather-appropriate clothing and footwear even if I'm not wearing it.

I don't make a habit of it, neither of my regular vehicles have extra seating anyway, but I might if it passes the gut test.

[Jaytea]

If I know the person Yes. If I don't know the person., no matter what I'm carrying they do not get a ride from me. The distance between you and the rider is a matter of a couple of feet. Guns or no guns, knives, clubs, fists, kicks, grabbing all can happen way before I can draw my gun.

[ANGLICO]

Youse to hike the entire east coast in the early '80s' to get out of the snow............. go all the way to Key West... (warm)

Thease day, wow. Totally different game... Really.

Today, if you are several years younger and still look good (and have very small/light baggage) I will pick you up on my bike......... (Female of course!)

Everyone else is just so screwed.............................

[chuckusaret]

I never pick up any hitch hikers and each time I see a hitch hiker I think of Aileen Wuornos. This woman killed at least eight men that gave her a ride.

[archer51]

I used to hitch hike, and I also picked up hitch hikers, but that was back in the 60's and 70's. Wouldn't do it now. Too many crazy people out there to put myself at that kind of risk.

[Mike1956]

I have only seen one hitchhiker in the last five years or so around here, and yes, I gave him a ride. No issues.

[Ksgunner]

When I was in the Airforce in the Sixtys I used to hichhike from California to Arizona. Airforce didn't pay enough in those day for me to buy a bus ticket... I don't see anyone in uniform hichhiking anymore.

[mnmbrewing]

I have only done it once and it wasn't even a hitch hiker. Driving down the highway, dead of winter, colder than a ...anyway. I notice a beat up truck on the side of the road. When I pass it I see a family inside. I pulled off and backed up. Dad didn't look like an upstanding citizen but he had young kids with him so I offered the ride to get the kids out of the cold. That is about the only way I would give a ride.

Years ago while on a family vacation to FL we passed a guy hitch hiking. My father says look a guy hitching. We had no room in the car even if we wanted to give a ride so we kept going. I remember looking back and as we passed you could see down an embankment. One guy on the side of the road with a sign and 4 or 5 more hiding down the embankment waiting for someone to stop. That about did it for me.

[ep1953]

I have only done it once and it wasn't even a hitch hiker. Driving down the highway, dead of winter, colder than a ...anyway. I notice a beat up truck on the side of the road. When I pass it I see a family inside. I pulled off and backed up. Dad didn't look like an upstanding citizen but he had young kids with him so I offered the ride to get the kids out of the cold. That is about the only way I would give a ride.

Years ago while on a family vacation to FL we passed a guy hitch hiking. My father says look a guy hitching. We had no room in the car even if we wanted to give a ride so we kept going. I remember looking back and as we passed you could see down an embankment. One guy on the side of the road with a sign and 4 or 5 more hiding down the embankment waiting for someone to stop. That about did it for me.

It would have been my inclination to call the police and report what I saw.

[Tayopo]

G'morning. In old Mexico in the 50 - 60's everyone helped each other, no problems. I myself have had many rides from the end of the trail where I left my mule. With no bus or otherwise service, or at the best weekly, one had to share rides, especially to broken or out of gas vehicles.

I have spent many an hour riding in the back of a pickup amid live stock or on top of a pile of lumber. Once my partner riding with a load of goats, had his boots filled by a nervous goat, laughed my arse off. He did claim that it warmed his cold feet for a while.

However, that changed radically with the coming of the narcotic demand boom in the US and the huge gangs warfare. Today I flatly refuse to give any rides on the highways or main country roads, but for the back trails yep, however 'not' recommended.

Don Jose de La Mancha

[blitzburgh]

Hell no.

Never have, never will.