Picking up hitch-hikers?

I once stopped my car outside mums to shut the gates with 3 small kids in the back(youngest was 2 at the time) a man got in who'd been hitch hiking unsuccessfully.
He ask where I was driving to and then told me to take him to Corby..I was terrified but could do nowt but comply as I had the kids in the back. Fortunately got there without mishap ..turns out he was a rich git whose son had used his expensive car that he'd had to abandon due to summit son had done.
On another occasion man flagged me down by standing in the middle of the road..he demanded a lift but this time I floored it...From then on made sure all doors locked whilst driving.

Youngest son has made me pick up a few hitch hikers and then if he finds out they are ex service we not only used to give them a lift but drive miles out of our way!

When narrowboating around the system some years ago now, I hitch-hiked extensively since I had no car (or licence). I was quite experienced, having used hitch-hiking as my main form of travel since about the age of sixteen.

I had many good experiences which are a bit dull to relate; I got picked up, we got to where I wanted to go, etc. Here are a few recollections:

A guy in a clapped-out van picked me up but it quickly turned out he was swigging from a bottle of vodka. I alighted.

I was waiting near a roundabout when a Land-Rover stopped and the two men inside started jabbering about some work they wanted to offer me, starting immediately. I declined; it all seemed more than a little strange and in any case I didn't want a job.

A little into another trip the driver said he wanted to briefly stop somewhere slightly off-route for a reason I don't recall. His stop-over turned out to be a religious commune. However nobody attempted to preach doctrine.

A guy in a Triumph TR7 that had seen better days stopped. Once underway there was an obvious smell of burning oil. I suggested that perhaps he should check the oil but he was unconcerned, even when the oil light came on. Eventually the engine spectacularly self-terminated and we ground to a halt. I thanked him for the lift and carried on walking.

On a road which had few good spots for hitching, there was a pile-up involving several cars, more-or-less where I was standing. I decided to look for another spot.

Once, returning from a trip away, it transpired that a murder had occurred in some woods that I had walked through on my way to the main road. Everybody who knew me was convinced I was the victim. Many were genuinely surprised to see me, and the police showed up to verify my continued existence.

For the most part, I met some really great people who wanted nothing more than a chat. I rarely waited more than about 30 minutes for a ride, and it was often almost instantaneous. However, sometimes I had to walk for a few miles to find a suitable spot to hitch from. Sometimes it rained a lot and it was miserable. At other times the sun shone and it really didn't matter how long the journey took.

I sometimes stop for hitchers. The last guy was a chap from eastern Europe who had been to some festival and was heading home via Dover. I liked him enough to go a little out of my way so I could drop him at a better spot for hitching purposes than he would otherwise have had to deal with.

My first thought was whoever stopped to take the picture then drive off must have been a bit of a nasty person.

Or was it a posed image.

Well maybe, it all seemed completely non-threatening at the time.

When I was nineteen (all black and white back then of course) I hitched regularly.

No exciting tales to tell, just a means of transport.

But you're right, I cannot recall the last time I saw a hitch hiker.

I drove past my old school at turning out time the other day, and it looked like all the 17 plus kids had their own cars ... maybe that's why.

When I was at the same school many of the teachers didn't have cars ... times change.

Rog

 Yes I do understand the concept of random.... BUT you said:    "Unfortunately, I chose not to stop and give her a lift today due to..."

 We've had the hitch hiking thread before, by the way.
 I hitch hiked a lot when I was younger, in England, Scotland, Wales, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland  -  and the last time being when I was 35 and dropped off at an M4 junction as the crowd I was with were heading back from a heavy vehicles brakes manufacturing plant in South Wales to London, and I went to visit my sister near Malmesbury. And 8 years ago with a couple of hikers in the Lake District, Wrynose Pass back into Great Langdale (we had got lost in the mist and came down before dark, but to the South instead of the East, from Crinkle Crags).

 In return I have given lifts to many hitch hikers in my/own car(s). Never a problem. Young people don't have much money, generally, it's a small thing to do to help them out exploring the world and getting to know people.

 Last hitch hiker for me was a couple of months ago, Ukrainian man (late 20s?) at the southern end of our village as I was driving my empty bus home for breakfast, took him to the northern end of the village where he'd be more likely to get a lift North - he was going to Nord Kapp (northern Norway).