Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a way to end travel from place to place in someone else's car or lorry. Usually, a hitchhiker (a person who hitchhikes) will stand at the side of a road and hold his or her thumb in the air waiting for a passerby to come and pick her or him up. This is a sign that he or she wants to go somewhere else.
It was a very common way of traveling in Europe in the 1970s until people started to go missing. It is common for people to encounter rapists or lunatics while hitchiking, it is not always clear when being picked up if a person is dangerous, and this make it very dangerous and has made it less popular.
Because of this, hitchhiking is illegal or restricted in many country’s and states of America.
Hitchhiking Media
A man and woman hitchhiking near Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1936, photograph by Walker Evans
A man with an outstretched thumb and a sign indicating his destination.
A typical hitchhiker's gesture
Two of the signs used in the United States, forbidding hitchhiking
Mitfahrbank with destination signs in Flensburg
An episode of About Safety, a 1970s educational children's show, about the safety of hitchhiking
Two men tramping in Jerusalem
Hitchhiking (called liften) is legal in the Netherlands. This sign suggests a good place to get a lift.
A "slug line" of passengers waiting for rides in the US
Two WPA workers hitchhiking in California, circa 1939
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Other websites
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Hitchhiking - a wiki project to collect information about hitchhiking
- Anhalterfreunde Archived 2007-01-10 at the Wayback Machine - Information all about hitchhiking (English and German language)
- Liftershalte.info Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine - a worldmap with hitching places.
- hitchbase.com - Database with hitchhing places
- Abgefahren e.V. - the first German Autostop Society; ideas, tips, projects,..
