OT: is hitchhiking legal or not (in US)

[alf]

Hi,

I was surprised when got to know that hitchhiking is not legal in many
states across US (simple Internet research shows it does not hold a
truth). is it true or not?

And if now why?

 

[Josh Assing]

There is nothing in the federal law that prohibits hitchiking.

However, a lot of local agencies prohibit it for safety reasons (traffic
stopping as people try to merge on to a freeway.)

Hi,

I was surprised when got to know that hitchhiking is not legal in many
states across US (simple Internet research shows it does not hold a
truth). is it true or not?

And if now why?

--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

 

[Christopher Ott]

Here's some info on hitchhiking in the U.S.
http://www.digihitch.com/usa-map.html

I'm not aware of any state which specifically prohibits hitchhiking, but
I've certainly seen signs on some of the busier freeways which prohibit
pedestrians. I'm in Oregon, and see tons of people hiking along the roadways
in the summertime.

I must admit, that generally speaking, hitchhikers are not well liked...

Chris

 

[M.J.]

Here's some info on hitchhiking in the U.S.
http://www.digihitch.com/usa-map.html

I'm not aware of any state which specifically prohibits hitchhiking,

Most of the technicalities of specific laws have the intent of
outright prohibiting hitchhiking, or so it seems.

but I've certainly seen signs on some of the busier freeways which
prohibit pedestrians. I'm in Oregon, and see tons of people hiking along
the roadways in the summertime.

I must admit, that generally speaking, hitchhikers are not well liked...

Yeah, also broadly speaking, much of US population does not truly
subscribe to the idea of "personal freedoms" although a lot of empty
buzz floats around.

Frequently, so called freedoms are outright trampled on or at least
attempted to be trampled at the slightest occasion. That's why a bunch
of smart guys put so many specifically into law, the US. Constitution,
some years ago, so that they cannot be taken away too easily, by a
populus generally, and at heart, not subscribing to most of them.

This is nothing new to Americans, but many foreigners find it
strange and somewhat conflicting to hear so much about US
freedoms abroad, and find so many restrictions on these freedoms
upon visiting US. Hitchhiking I think is an excellent example.

M.J.

Chris

 

[Stephan Rose]

Most of the technicalities of specific laws have the intent of
outright prohibiting hitchhiking, or so it seems.




Yeah, also broadly speaking, much of US population does not truly
subscribe to the idea of "personal freedoms" although a lot of empty
buzz floats around.

Frequently, so called freedoms are outright trampled on or at least
attempted to be trampled at the slightest occasion. That's why a bunch
of smart guys put so many specifically into law, the US. Constitution,
some years ago, so that they cannot be taken away too easily, by a
populus generally, and at heart, not subscribing to most of them.

This is nothing new to Americans, but many foreigners find it
strange and somewhat conflicting to hear so much about US
freedoms abroad, and find so many restrictions on these freedoms
upon visiting US. Hitchhiking I think is an excellent example.

US? Freedoms??? What freedoms??

And on the subject of hitchiking...

If the US would take only a small part of the money they waste on
playing "world police"....and spend it on their own people for say..oh
I don't know...a reasonable public transportation system, then
hitchhiking would not even be needed....

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara

 

[_Bob_Nixon]

Hi,

I was surprised when got to know that hitchhiking is not legal in many
states across US (simple Internet research shows it does not hold a
truth). is it true or not?

And if now why?

Yes and no. In Arizona there are signs near prisons saying, "Don't
pick up hitchhikers" otherwise it's OK except on interstates/freeways
where pedestrians are normally forbidden if it's obvious that you're
non just a broke down motorist walking to a gas station or such. IOW,
if you're wearing a backpack, expect to be stopped. In California it
must also be illegal on interstates/ freeways because there are
emergency call boxes every mile. On two lane roads most places
require, like a bicycle, that you ride /walk IN THE DIRRECTION of
traffic.

All that said Hitching is a dangerous business unless there is a nice
wide shoulder on the road, plus you never know what kind of nut job is
going to offer you a ride.


Bob Nixon, Chandler AZ
01 Sprint ST "RED" 55K miles
http://bigrex.net/pictures

 

[_Bob_Nixon]

US? Freedoms??? What freedoms??

And on the subject of hitchiking...

If the US would take only a small part of the money they waste on
playing "world police"....and spend it on their own people for say..oh
I don't know...a reasonable public transportation system, then
hitchhiking would not even be needed....

With all due respect Stephen, it's not that simple. What about outside
of towns? Busses/Trains are not free and I'll bet the chances of a
"safe" hitchhiked ride are an order of magnitude higher in Europe,
which has nothing to due with any World policemen.


Bob Nixon, Chandler AZ
01 Sprint ST "RED" 55K miles
http://bigrex.net/pictures

 

[Stephan Rose]

With all due respect Stephen, it's not that simple. What about outside
of towns? Busses/Trains are not free and I'll bet the chances of a
"safe" hitchhiked ride are an order of magnitude higher in Europe,
which has nothing to due with any World policemen.

Of course they are not free, but they *exist*. Even out here in the
middle of nowhere, where I live, there at the very least are busses
connecting all the towns. And, it is one bus-ride away from the next
train station which lets you go anywhere in europe. The only reason we
actually don't have trains connecting the towns in my area is because
of the mountains. If you go into the more flat-areas of germany even
the smaller towns have train systems connecting them. I used to use
them all the time when I was a kid to get around.

And on the matter of cost, while they are not free, they are not
expensive either. Matter of fact, it costs magnitudes less than
owning a car if you live in an area where you can really take
advantage of it. My car, if I include fuel and insurance and payment,
runs me 500 euros a month. A monthly train ticket that allows
unlimited use of the train system runs 65 or so euros a month.

I don't understand why everyone in the US fights such a system so
much. I remember when Florida was supposed to get a high-speed train
system to connect all the major cities. It would have been wonderful!
But the governor did a good job and making sure it wouldn't happen
DESPITE the people having VOTED for it (gotta LOVE democracy at work
here)!

The US would truly be the perfect place for this. You have huge, long
distances that are perfect for those trains capable of going 200 miles
per hour. Beats sitting in 70mph congested highway traffic, doesn't
it?

You could reduce the distance between say Florida and New York, which
is a common route for many people, to less than half the time it takes
by car.

I just don't understand why it is not done.

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara

 

[Bonehenge]

With all due respect Stephen, it's not that simple. What about outside
of towns? Busses/Trains are not free and I'll bet the chances of a
"safe" hitchhiked ride are an order of magnitude higher in Europe,
which has nothing to due with any World policemen.

Not mention:

1.) Traffic laws (like hitchhiking) are usually STATE, not Federal
laws. We don't have a national driver's license, national auto
registrations, or national highway law standards.

2.) There are still miles of open space in the US where mass transit
dosen't make any sense at all. Most urban areas have excellent mass
transit systems, at the minimum busses.

If Americans use mass transit or not is a totally different story. In
most urban areas it certainly is available.

Stephen, please don't choke on your anti-Americanism. <G>

 

[Stephan Rose]

Not mention:

1.) Traffic laws (like hitchhiking) are usually STATE, not Federal
laws. We don't have a national driver's license, national auto
registrations, or national highway law standards.

2.) There are still miles of open space in the US where mass transit
dosen't make any sense at all. Most urban areas have excellent mass
transit systems, at the minimum busses.

Quite the opposite, the miles of open space would be perfect for a
track to go through connecting cities that are 10 hours away by car
that could be less than half that distance by train.

If Americans use mass transit or not is a totally different story. In
most urban areas it certainly is available.

Stephen, please don't choke on your anti-Americanism. <G>

Really?? Where is it available?? Save for a few select places such as
New York, San Francisco...where else?

If you call the occasional bus "excellent mass transit system"
please...give me a break...

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara

 

[Saddlebag]

Stephen, please don't choke on your anti-Americanism. <G>

Note to Stephen:

Please refrain from supplying any constructive to Americans based on
your experience. America is perfect just the way it is and anyone who
says otherwise should move to North Korea or China. Just ask Timsy or
Mike.

 

[M.J.]

Of course they are not free, but they *exist*. Even out here in the
middle of nowhere, where I live, there at the very least are busses
connecting all the towns. And, it is one bus-ride away from the next
train station which lets you go anywhere in europe. The only reason we
actually don't have trains connecting the towns in my area is because
of the mountains. If you go into the more flat-areas of germany even
the smaller towns have train systems connecting them. I used to use
them all the time when I was a kid to get around.

And on the matter of cost, while they are not free, they are not
expensive either. Matter of fact, it costs magnitudes less than
owning a car if you live in an area where you can really take
advantage of it. My car, if I include fuel and insurance and payment,
runs me 500 euros a month. A monthly train ticket that allows
unlimited use of the train system runs 65 or so euros a month.

I don't understand why everyone in the US fights such a system so
much. I remember when Florida was supposed to get a high-speed train
system to connect all the major cities. It would have been wonderful!
But the governor did a good job and making sure it wouldn't happen
DESPITE the people having VOTED for it (gotta LOVE democracy at work
here)!

The US would truly be the perfect place for this. You have huge, long
distances that are perfect for those trains capable of going 200 miles
per hour. Beats sitting in 70mph congested highway traffic, doesn't
it?

You could reduce the distance between say Florida and New York, which
is a common route for many people, to less than half the time it takes
by car.

I just don't understand why it is not done.

Have in mind Stephan that US is not a national state like most all
countries in Europe, and the world. People here are not uniform
in any way, and this causes various issues. There is tremendous
heterogeneity in all aspects of human condition, and interaction
- various income levels, differing levels of education, norms of
behaviour, personal hygiene, health levels, everything you can
imagine. Now all of this is additionally amplified by differences
in religion, race, creed, country of origin, cullture in general.

You cannot realistically expect such a un-uniform mixture of
people to get along well and want to enthusiastically share public
accomodations for prolonged periods of time. I suspect, this is,
generally speaking, why public services like transportation do
not get much support in US and as a rule do not work here.

M.J.

 

[Stephan Rose]

Have in mind Stephan that US is not a national state like most all
countries in Europe, and the world. People here are not uniform
in any way, and this causes various issues. There is tremendous
heterogeneity in all aspects of human condition, and interaction
- various income levels, differing levels of education, norms of
behaviour, personal hygiene, health levels, everything you can
imagine. Now all of this is additionally amplified by differences
in religion, race, creed, country of origin, cullture in general.

With all due respect, I have to somewhat disagree.

Having lived in the US long enough, having been to a whole bunch of
states, knowing people from all over the various states, I've yet to
see any significant difference.

Sure, you have your difference between notherners / southerners,
differences between east coast, west coast, etc. But to me, those
differences are no more significant than the difference between north
/ south germany. Nevermind north / south europe!

The same differences apply here in Europe as well. Income, education,
mentality, language even (one difference you don't have nearly as
significantly), culture, different governments between countries
(again something you don't have), and so on.

I can basicaly come up with the identical list you have and a few more
and many differences are even greater than in the US.

You cannot realistically expect such a un-uniform mixture of
people to get along well and want to enthusiastically share public
accomodations for prolonged periods of time. I suspect, this is,
generally speaking, why public services like transportation do
not get much support in US and as a rule do not work here.

I suspect the fact that people wouldn't get along well might be part
of that reason, I mean they can't even get along on the roads. But I
don't think that differences between people are the reason. I think
it's just a pure mentality issue. The same "I own the road and
everyone else get out of my way" attidue I often noticed on the roads.
I agree that an attitude like that isn't going to work well in a
public system.

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara

 

[Stephan Rose]

Note to Stephen:

Please refrain from supplying any constructive to Americans based on
your experience. America is perfect just the way it is and anyone who
says otherwise should move to North Korea or China. Just ask Timsy or
Mike.

Hahaha saddle!!

Doesn't that attidue go against "free speech" though or did that go
down the drain already too?

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara

 

[M.J.]

With all due respect, I have to somewhat disagree.

Having lived in the US long enough, having been to a whole bunch of
states, knowing people from all over the various states, I've yet to
see any significant difference.

Sure, you have your difference between notherners / southerners,
differences between east coast, west coast, etc. But to me, those
differences are no more significant than the difference between north
/ south germany. Nevermind north / south europe!

The same differences apply here in Europe as well. Income, education,
mentality, language even (one difference you don't have nearly as
significantly), culture, different governments between countries
(again something you don't have), and so on.

Disparities of income are much lesser in any European country,
than in US, (aside post-communist countries as their economies,
in transition, created much much income disparity). Disparity in
education levels is far far lesser in Europe. Same can be said about
many other aspects of life particularly regarding a population within
a state (national state). Civility in Europe as a whole appears to be
higher than in US, of course at times when Europeans are not at
war with each other ;-) ....so go figure.

M.J.

 

[Victor Roberts]

Really?? Where is it available?? Save for a few select places such as
New York, San Francisco...where else?

If you call the occasional bus "excellent mass transit system"
please...give me a break...

While I would like to see more, there are excellent mass
transit systems in at least these cities:

New York (and surrounding suburbs in NY, NJ and CT)
Boston
Cleveland
Chicago
Philadelphia
Washington, DC (and surrounding suburbs)
San Francisco (whole Bay Area)

and I believe in many other cities that I don't get to visit
very often.

What we are really missing are high speed intercity trains.
Cities in the US are generally further apart then in Europe
and it has been said that we tend to prefer plane travel
because of those larger distances. There are a number of
places that are 100 to 200 miles apart where travel by high
speed train would be just as fast as by plane when you add
in all the time wasted at airports these days. I live about
150 miles from New York City and take the train all the
time, but would really love to have a faster train like
those in Japan or even parts of Europe such as France and
Germany.

 

[Al]

While I would like to see more, there are excellent mass
transit systems in at least these cities:

New York (and surrounding suburbs in NY, NJ and CT)
Boston
Cleveland
Chicago
Philadelphia
Washington, DC (and surrounding suburbs)
San Francisco (whole Bay Area)

and I believe in many other cities that I don't get to visit
very often.

What we are really missing are high speed intercity trains.
Cities in the US are generally further apart then in Europe
and it has been said that we tend to prefer plane travel
because of those larger distances. There are a number of
places that are 100 to 200 miles apart where travel by high
speed train would be just as fast as by plane when you add
in all the time wasted at airports these days. I live about
150 miles from New York City and take the train all the
time, but would really love to have a faster train like
those in Japan or even parts of Europe such as France and
Germany.

Remember, it's illegal only if you're caught!

Al

 

[Jerry]

US? Freedoms??? What freedoms??

And on the subject of hitchiking...

If the US would take only a small part of the money they waste on
playing "world police"....and spend it on their own people for say..oh
I don't know...a reasonable public transportation system, then
hitchhiking would not even be needed....

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara

Just a thought, but if the U.S. did not play world police, the world that is
not now licking and polishing the boots of some dictator, would be doing so
as well. Yes, the U.S. is not perfect, and it is too bad that the U.S. has
to spend so much time and resources doing what others without the means and
or backbone should be doing. Tell the rest of the world to act right.
Chances are real fucking great that any freedom you have is directly related
to a U.S soldier past and present.

 

[krusty kritter]

Just a thought, but if the U.S. did not play world police, the world that is
not now licking and polishing the boots of some dictator, would be doing so
as well. Yes, the U.S. is not perfect, and it is too bad that the U.S. has
to spend so much time and resources doing what others without the means and
or backbone should be doing. Tell the rest of the world to act right.
Chances are real fucking great that any freedom you have is directly related
to a U.S soldier past and present.

I suppose you believe that western imperialism is driven by altruism,
rather than the profit motive.

 

[Stephan Rose]

Just a thought, but if the U.S. did not play world police, the world that is
not now licking and polishing the boots of some dictator, would be doing so
as well. Yes, the U.S. is not perfect, and it is too bad that the U.S. has
to spend so much time and resources doing what others without the means and
or backbone should be doing. Tell the rest of the world to act right.
Chances are real fucking great that any freedom you have is directly related
to a U.S soldier past and present.

Sounds like you have your head stuck up bush's ass so far you don't
even know what sunlight looks like anymore.

What you say there is easy enough to claim, but can you actually prove
your rather interesting theory?

Also, who would this dictator be? Don't say Hussein because please, we
all know that NONE of the reasons that the US used to invade were
actually true! Which basically means he was no threat to anyone.

And unlike the US, he could actaully keep his country under control!

The only reason bush ever invaded that place was for the oil and to
make money. Nothing else...
--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

kimi no koto omoidasu hi nante nai no wa
kimi no koto wasureta toki ga nai kara