Audri Swisher's Blog

In “The Vanishing Hitchhiker,” we find that urban legends are perpetuated because of three basic elements: a strong story appeal, a foundation in actual belief, and a meaningful moral. These “true” tales fill in gaps left by formal news reports and gratify our sensation-seeking minds. As with other narrative folklore, urban legends vary by the storyteller, to fit local places or to update old stories. In later pages, the book goes on to analyze several (in?)famous urban legends.

The Freakonomics podcast discussed the disappearance of hitchhikers in America. Popular culture and movies warned “If you hitchhike, you will DIE,” and the practice faded from use. The podcast asks, how dangerous was it? How common was hitchhiking violence in reality? (answer: uncommon.) What happens when you let small numbers balloon into large fears? One person interviewed in the podcast pointed out that hitchhiking wasn’t the danger – the crazy people out there will still be crazy people with or without hitchhiking.

Demand for hitchhiking fell because of fear, but also probably because the supply of transportation increased – fewer people needed a lift. There were more cars that were longer-lasting and more drivers in general. Today, the average commuting car leaves eighty percent of its passenger load unused.

Near the end of the podcast, several interviewees lament the loss of trusting others in America. Our biggest fear, he says, is strangers – odd, since we’re infinitely more likely to be hurt by the people we know.

Response:

All right, first thing. At home, we still use a phone book, hang laundry on a clothesline, and have a computer that accepts floppy disks (though it’s unlikely that they’ve ever been used in its slot). I have also seen plenty of hitchhikers on the road, so to hear that most of these guys haven’t seen one in twenty years was odd to me. Maybe it’s just a western South Dakota thing. Heck, hitching a ride is the only way my dad got across South Dakota when he was in college.

Let’s recap.

1. Hitchhiking saves money.
2. Hitchhiking is environmentally friendly.
3. Hitchhiking is fairly safe. One interviewee compared it to annual shark attacks. Well, I can think of several things that are more likely to harm you than a shark. (deep breath) Biking, jumping on a trampoline, swimming in a lake, swimming in a pond, swimming at all, using an oven, driving, playing sports, eating peanuts, sleeping on the top bunk, climbing ladders, working machinery, playing with a dog, waterskiing, snow skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, using a vending machine (you laugh, but people get crushed after shaking it in anger and tipping it over as a result). Hey, the presidency has an almost 10% rate of being killed on the job, and look how many people are still going for that job :P.
4. A return to hitchhiking would signify a renewal of trust between Americans.

In the face of these perfectly logical arguments for hitchhiking, do I think that it will ever see an upsurge? No – and that comes back to urban legends and their morals, etc.

I believe our greatest fear as Americans isn’t only strangers, but the unknown as a whole. With that said, the idea of either getting into a stranger’s car or inviting a stranger into yours is completely foreign to some people. As opposed to every other action I described in 3., hitchhiking is unregulated and random – we can’t be in control if we choose to partake. Urban legends like the ones described in “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” morph into our idea of the worst-case scenario of a relatively harmless action, and we try to protect ourselves. It’s not incomprehensible – merely a sign of the times.

(Random: anyone else notice the three Hs on the Moodle hitchhiker link? 😉 )