Illegal Hitchhiking States

BridgeCritter

BridgeCritter

New member
So there are a handful of states that are illegal to hitchhike in. Idaho, Utah, and Nevada are 3 right next to eachother according to the internet. I hear about a lot of people thumbing through those states though.

Anybody ever ran into any troubles while hitchhiking these states?
 
Some, but mostly not. The majority of cops are either unaware of the anti-hitching laws or just don't care. Usually even the ones that care will just use it as an excuse to run your name and then send you on your way; it's not worth the paperwork for them, especially when they know you're broke and not coming back to that town anyway. I've had cops try to be hardasses about it and say they'll write me a ticket if they catch me doing it again, but I've never gotten a ticket over it even when they catch me multiple times. I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I will say that all three of the states you named suck for hitching through.
 
Meh, I've had much success hitching through Utah and nevada. Idaho is a whole 'nother country IMO. I'm pretty sure New Jersey and a couple other states back east and here in the west have that "No soliciting rides from a roadway" law. But easy to get around that if you are not a danger to traffic or yourself while hitching.

Just be smart about it. Dont hitch close to a lane of traffic if you dont have to, and do t go past the 'no pedestrian' signs.

If a cop looks like they will come talk to you, just be cool and have your ID out before they get there. These tactics have always worked for me even in the worst of states.

However, I'm a white male with no warrants. So take that into account.
 
I've hitchhiked in 40 states. Never real problems on Highways, it's the Interstates you have to be mindful of, hitching on the actual Interstate right of way is never a good idea, but I've done it anyways- if I think a particular ramp sucks, I just start walkin. But I RARELY make it to the next exit on foot before being stopped by Highway Patrol.
 
I agree with Coywolf and brodiesel.

I'd also like to add that I've been hitchhiking through Texas before, driver got stopped for speeding, and we were given a hard time, got vehicle searched, and were told by the texas highway patrol that hitchhiking was illegal in the state of Texas.

I think cops will do what they want regardless, and the only way to win is by kissing ass. Even in cases where they are completely wrong (like, its perfectly legal to hitchhike in Texas) if I were to argue with them, what's to stop them from making my life even more difficult? Or the driver, which would really suck because they didn't have to give me a ride and were just being nice.

Anyway, the key is to agree with them. Always
 
Coywolf said:
I'm pretty sure New Jersey and a couple other states back east and here in the west have that "No soliciting rides from a roadway" law. But easy to get around that if you are not a danger to traffic or yourself while hitching.
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There's a little trick here. Most of the time, these laws specify that a roadway is the part of the highway normally used for traffic, exclusive of the shoulder. Meaning that as long as you're not hitching from the middle of the road, you're actually fine.

Hitching the turnpike in Jersey is explicitly illegal though.

Anyway, the key is to agree with them. Always
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Hard disagree. I've disagreed with cops constantly, and while it's wound up in the occasional retaliatory ticket or whatever, it's not really worth their time usually. Push your rights, and correct them on the law. Otherwise, you're teaching them exactly what they can get away with.
 
Dameon said:
There's a little trick here. Most of the time, these laws specify that a roadway is the part of the highway normally used for traffic, exclusive of the shoulder.
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Sometimes in those statutes it states: 'Roadway is defined as any improved part of a road which is designed for vehicular traffic' which could mean any asphalt/concrete, and even the graded part of the dirt shoulder, if they want to go that far. Best thing to do is look up specific laws in your state. I think HitchWiki has all the laws from almost every state for hitching, listed by state.

I've had this discussion with cops hitching before, and like others have said, I end up just giving in and saying I'll GTFO as soon as possible, because continuing my trip was much more important than making a point and going to jail. I won that argument once hitching in some random exit west of PHX in the I10, lol. Cop said if I was there the next time he came around he would take me to jail for vagrancy.
 
Coywolf said:
Sometimes in those statutes it states: 'Roadway is defined as any improved part of a road which is designed for vehicular traffic' which could mean any asphalt/concrete, and even the graded part of the dirt shoulder, if they want to go that far. Best thing to do is look up specific laws in your state. I think HitchWiki has all the laws from almost every state for hitching, listed by state.

I've had this discussion with cops hitching before, and like others have said, I end up just giving in and saying I'll GTFO as soon as possible, because continuing my trip was much more important than making a point and going to jail. I won that argument once hitching in some random exit west of PHX in the I10, lol. Cop said if I was there the next time he came around he would take me to jail for vagrancy.
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What defines Vagrancy? Lack of currency right?
 
Nothing really defines vagrancy....its just a way for cops to get away with arresting homeless people.
 
Just stay off the interstate and away from prisons and you'll be fine. To this day I've never actually heard of someone getting arrested for hitching. I got pulled off a train somewhere in northern Oklahoma once and tried to hitch in a prison zone without realizing it. Cops told us not to put our thumbs out and just hoof it. Still caught a ride anyways.
 
I'm from Idaho and have hitch hiked around there before. Be careful. They tend to pull you over, offer you a ride, and then want to search ya. Then they insinuate they will arrest ya if ya don't let them search ya. That's happened to me and everyone else I know that has a police interaction while hitchhiking in Idaho. To their credit, they didn't find anything and gave me a ride, cop was kind of a dick though. Just don't have anything on ya that you don't want a cop finding if you hitch in Idaho.
 
BridgeCritter said:
...illegal to hitchhike in. Idaho...
Anybody ever ran into any troubles while hitchhiking these states?
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I looked up the law for Idaho. Apparently it's been illegal to hike since 1988.
But in 2009 I was posted up near the classification yard in broad fucking daylight, cause I'm a dumbass, and when Mr police man asked me what I was doing I said I was heading to the interstate to hitchhike. So he gave me a lift. He said I could hitch *right on* the interstate, so I did.
I don't remember him trying to search me, but I could be wrong. To long ago.
 
I see people on the side of the interstate all the time with their thumbs out in Oregon. I did have a couple of shitty encounters in Texas with cops while hitching. Never got arrested though.
 
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