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Secure Hitch-hiking (in a new age)

© Bernd Wechner

Well it's January again, and over bygone years January's article here has focused on new ideas. An on-line hitch-hiker's guide book, written by hitchers for hitchers, a world-wide hitch-hikers association bringing together a like minded people, a hospitality club for hitchers ... all of which have been set into motion since, if only slightly, by others (generally independent of my raising them here, I should add).

This year I'll put to paper (or screen) an idea that's cropped up in numerous conversations I've had, aired by others, aired by me, but rarely without some dispute, or skepticism. I'm playing on the idea of reducing danger somehow, using technology ... let's have a look at how.

Hitch-hiking's generally perceived as a dangerous activity. The perception's generally biased by media scare mongering, but all the same there are dangers. Notwithstanding the fact that traffic accidents pose the greatest risk a hitch-hiker faces, the greatest risk that's actually feared is crime.

Can the risk of crime be reduced? Well of course, don't hitch-hike! That's the most common public relations strategy that police and governments put into place anyhow, but hardly a novel suggestion. What about those who continue to hitch-hike in spite of all the media scare campaigns, laws and regulations that would like to dissuade them?

One idea is to organise the whole thing. Ride share agencies came onto the scene in no small part as an expression of that idea. That is, their raison d'être is essentially to provide a safer way of matching drivers with passengers than road-side soliciting. Ride sharing mind you, is not hitch-hiking, it's just close.

Some governments have experimented with a less formal compromise. Hitching coupons were issued in Poland for a long time, and ID cards were played with in France and the United States for a while ... the list of organising strategies is material for another article some time though.

The common theme is often the idea that some form of organisation, any at all really, will help to make the would-be criminal more identifiable, thus dissuading some of these would-be criminals from ever becoming real criminals -- for fear of the social repercussions (call that gaol or jail if you like). Anonymity, it's said, will encourage the dark side of some people to emerge and find expression.

Well, I'm not convinced that even perfect traceability (which ride sharing agencies endeavour to provide) is going to wipe out hitching crimes altogether. There'll always be a class of criminal that is either self-destructive enough not to care, or wily and confident enough to try and dodge the traces.

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