Hey, welcome, man. I am new here myself, and finding almost everyone to be over-the-top helpful and friendly. I think you’ll meet some very reliable folks here.
the vast majority of the time you'll get picked up by good folks. out of maybe a 100 rides i really only had maybe two that were really sketchy people.
and welcome to the site! don't forget to use the search and let us know if you have any questions
This topic usually comes up when hitchhiking. Those with a vehicle & dl who have never hitched always assume that the rider could be a dangerous serial killer type. Serial killers are super rare but people do behave badly all the time. The reality is that it would be more likely that a serial killer might actually fall into the category of the driver than the rider. To prey on drifters in the grey areas of society while having all the time to randomly find a victim, makes it sound much more dangerous to be a hitchhiker to me. With any situation in life, one must have their wits about them & be able to quickly see red flags while relying on their gut instincts for survival. I have learned that the majority of humanity is good if given the chance. Often times, the people who picked me up hitching had never before given a hitchhiker a ride. I believe that the burden is on all of us travelers to leave non travelers with positive experiences for helping us.
I believe that as we make positive, negative or neutral ripples through life that those small actions have the potential to influence others; some could cause destructive waves or miraculous unknown outcomes. While much of our existence in life may be internally perceived as mundane neutrality; we never know exactly what impacts we exert on others.