[quote="Tdarcos"]The average person in civilized society is not a sociopathic killer or someone interested in committing brutal violence.[/quote]

Wait. What? This isn't true. I know you're going to make me find the studies, but this was debunked a few years back.

[quote="Bob Ross' Joy of Painting"]Ok, now I'm convinced you guys are just trolling me.

Anybody who is convinced that having anything to do with hitching is a good idea is just a sheep living among wolves, have fun with that.[/quote]
The average person in civilized society is not a sociopathic killer or someone interested in committing brutal violence. While the mass media doesn't report it because only bad news drives ratings ("if it bleeds, it leads,") the vast majority of people in Western Civilization are usually decent, law abiding people. Crime in general has been going down over the last few years. The fact that the slug lines in Northern Virginia have been operating as a [i]de facto[/i] organized hitchhiking system for over 25 years with zero incidents seems to prove the point.

Is it necessarily a good idea to do this sort of thing? Under ordinary circumstances of someone you do not know it probably isn't, but for men the odds of an attack are less than they are for a woman.

Consider that if you meet someone on-line - and I am one who has done so, multiple times - sooner or later you're going to have to go out and meet a stranger in person. Now, fact remains, in most cases I'd been talking to someone - on line and/or on the telephone - for anywhere from several days to a month, at some point you have to pull the trigger[1] and take a chance. For a lot of us, we don't have a lot of time to go places to socialize and we may not necessarily find someone either interesting or interested in going out with you at work.

It used to be said, "a stranger is someone we haven't met," or sometimes more liberally as, "a stranger is a [i]friend[/i] we haven't met."

As a notary public I see strangers on a regular basis; back when I could walk I went to people's houses either to watch them sign their refinance papers for their mortgage, or people would call me to have me come out to their house because something they needed notarized had to be done right away. Now, because I advertise, people call me or walk up to my house to have something notarized. I've never had a problem over the fourteen years I've been licensed either in Virginia, Maryland or both. Well, one time a woman's dog tried to bite me but that's not a threat from a person.

I think the biggest thing in discouraging hitchhiking was, more than anything else, to make women careful so they wouldn't be overpowered, or attacked, or sexually assaulted.

-----
[1] "To pull the trigger" is an expression meaning to act on a particular choice. When I go to Amazon.com because I'm considering buying something but I'm not sure I should, at some point I either need to abandon the item and forget it, or select a payment option and "pull the trigger" and order. The phrase has no violent connotations.

Ok, now I'm convinced you guys are just trolling me.

Anybody who is convinced that having anything to do with hitching is a good idea is just a sheep living among wolves, have fun with that.

REEP REEP REEP!

Everyone has except Billy, because STRANGER DANGER!!

I take it no one in this thread has ever used Uber, Lyft, whatever? Literally a stranger will usually give you candy when jumping into their car...

You're an idiot.

[quote="The Happiness Engine"]So..."Fear and shun everyone you see." Got it.[/quote]

It's not about fearing or shunning, it's about not trusting. Make friends with whoever you want at work, school, the gym, that's just healthy interaction. But if they aren't somebody you would invite into your home, then you'd be smart to not invite them into your car or get into theirs.

So..."Fear and shun everyone you see." Got it.

[quote="pinback"]"Live in fear", I think is what Billy is trying to say.[/quote]

No. What I was trying to say is "Don't be a fucking moron and get yourself killed over shit that doesn't concern you, because there are some real fucking dangerous animals out there who don't give a shit about your tough guy persona." I was just trying to say it nicer.

"Live in fear", I think is what Billy is trying to say.

Either way, picking up a stranger or getting into a strange vehicle is about the dumbest thing you could ever do. If you see an individual or a group stranded by a vehicle, drive past them without stopping or contacting them, pull off at the next exit or a mile down the road and report it to law enforcement if you are that concerned about it. Don't ever under any circumstance pick up hitchhikers, they made poor life decisions and should never be trusted, you are likely to get mugged or worse, and call law enforcement if have any reasonable cause or desire to do so. And never, ever, ever, under any circumstance get into a strange vehicle. Walk, roll, or crawl wherever you need to go.

[quote="RetroRomper"]Unless he found someone driving a power scooter accessible van to pick him up, I'd assume it was at least twenty years ago.[/quote]
That's probably about right. But the fact remains, in 1995 it was still considered as dangerous as now to pick up hitchhikers.

[quote] Have you also read about the one and only time he had sex? [/quote]
From where did you get that idea? I've been with more than one woman in my life. Exactly where did you find some reading material about "the one and only time I had sex" as you call it?

[quote]3. They were apparently successful in teasing a guy that didn't know any better, to the point where he would take them where they wanted.[/quote]
Nobody 'teased' me. Two females were looking for a ride. I drove them where they wanted to go simply because I felt sorry for them. Because I've been in that situation myself. Does not mean I had any other interest nor was I manipulated into doing something I might not have done otherwise.

Unless he found someone driving a power scooter accessible van to pick him up, I'd assume it was at least twenty years ago. Have you also read about the one and only time he had sex? Fairly sad read, but that was in the 80s' I believe, so that means:

1. This hitch hiking thang was at least thrift years ago.
2. Even if the girls were offering, he wouldn't have been able to pick up on the signals.
3. They were apparently successful in teasing a guy that didn't know any better, to the point where he would take them where they wanted.

[quote="Tdarcos"]Oh please, I have both been a hitch-hiker, and picked up hitch-hikers, at various times. Picked up two cute girls once, drove out of my way to drop them off, and just enjoyed the experience. Nothing happened, and nothing happened.[/quote]

When was the last time you did any of this? People used to leave their front doors unlocked as well at one point.

[quote="Bob Ross' Joy of Painting"]It was a prostitute.

Pretty common practice actually.

Basically making up a bullshit story about a ride (to use as an alibi towards law enforcement if they have to), when only a john would pick up a stranger, and only a hooker would get into a strange vehicle.[/quote]

Oh please, I have both been a hitch-hiker, and picked up hitch-hikers, at various times. Picked up two cute girls once, drove out of my way to drop them off, and just enjoyed the experience. Nothing happened, and nothing happened.

It was a prostitute.

Pretty common practice actually.

Basically making up a bullshit story about a ride (to use as an alibi towards law enforcement if they have to), when only a john would pick up a stranger, and only a hooker would get into a strange vehicle.

It was autocorrect, I was posting from my phone.


What else did you write about?



THE
BLURRED LINES
AARDVARK

I wish I had noticed this one earlier, it's funny!

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]I came home for lunch today. As I went to make a left, an older woman frantically tried to flag me down. [DELETED] I can't think of anything I'd be up for less than a stranger riding behind me on a motorcycle.[/quote]
Yeah, but would you have been this reticent if she was young and cute?
[quote="AArdvark"]Gas, grass or gas, lady. Nobody rides for free.[/quote]
'Vark, it's "Gas, grass, or ass." Back in the mid 60s, '70s and early '80s, before they had incurable and then fatal venereal diseases, one night stands and "zipless fuck"s were supposedly very common. (Today they call it "hooking up.") Sometimes people met, they clicked, and had sex the same day. Some TV shows that offered people a chance to meet and go on a date reported that as many as 25% of the couples had sex on the first date.

Here is something to think about. In Virginia along the I-95 corridor from Dumfries, about 30 miles to Washington, DC, is a separate High Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV), which runs northbound in the morning and southbound in the afternoon. It's HOV-3, meaning you must have 3 or more passengers in the car. So people driving into work will stop at the park-and-ride lot in Stafford or near Potomac Mills and pick up two hitchhikers who are going the same place they are, whether it's somewhere in Fairfax county, Alexandria, Arlington or DC. No money exchanges hands; the two extra people get to ride for free in exchange for the driver being able to use the HOV lanes and get there 20 minutes faster. The extra passengers are referred to as "slugs" and the places where they wait and where drivers look for them are called "slug lines."

Going back home the driver in Downtown DC or well-known locations in the Virginia areas will look for people going back where he or she is for the same reason, to return using the HOV lanes.

This all sprouted up ad-hoc, nobody organized it, and it's been happening 5 days a week for more than twenty-five years, and in this whole time there's been no report of any attacks or assaults between drivers and slugs.

[quote="Jizaboz"]All she'd have to do is lean the wrong way into a turn to cause you a wreck, and then you'll be paying doctor and lawyer bills.[/quote]

This is why motorcycle operators are required to carry insurance same as automobile operators. And motorcycle insurance is fairly cheap; Geico even advertises it "as low as $100 a year." I'd have to pay more than that to get wheelchair collision insurance.

[quote="Flack"]Yeah, this is an old trick. They ask you for a ride somewhere and then when you get there you realize they've stolen your kidney.[/quote]

That happens so often with these rogue surgeons who are so skilled they can operate on a moving vehicle.

[quote="RealNC"]She was probably a rapist.[/quote]

Yeah, those women can be brutal.

On a serious note, I was shocked to discover that potentially a whopping 30% of all rapes can be woman on man, or woman on woman. Young men or boys who are raped by a woman are often afraid to say anything because it sounds ridiculous or it makes him look weak.

She was probably a rapist.