Dusan Ilic/Getty Images Did you once watch a horror movie about a hitchhiker, and decide you'd never pick up a wayward soul with their thumb out? Do you see hitchhikers on the streets — yes, they're still out there — and lock your doors and avoid making eye contact out of fear of ending up in a slasher film? Well, according to the data, you have nothing to fear — except, perhaps, being the attacker. As it turns out, hitchhikers don't kill people. Hitchhikers get killed. Data on hitchhiking is often sparse, dated, or both. The advent of cellphones and the age of stranger danger have lessened the popularity of hitching rides, meaning most of the studies available predate those, and what data can be found now is often based on smaller data sets. Luckily for us, a study from 2025 looked into the safety of hitchhiking, and its findings were clear: Hitchhikers are more often victims of violence, particularly sexual, than perpetrators of it. Not dangrous for you Pressmaster/Shutterstock It makes sense, when you logic it out. The hitchhiker — often alone, usually with few other transit options if this is what they've resorted to — is suddenly not only face-to-face with a complete stranger but locked in a car with them. The power dynamic there tilts firmly in favor of the driver, and it's no surprise that many folks who pick up hitchhikers do so for unscrupulous reasons. Demands of payment for rides aren't uncommon, and those drivers often aren't asking for cash. The study – "Lost Highways: An Examination of the Question of Risk Involved in Sexual Homicides of Hitchhiking Victims" — looked at data from the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD). It found: The results, based on the use of bivariate and multivariate statistics, indicate that offenders view hitchhiking victims as opportunities for confinement without physical restraint, often engaging in sexual acts and theft. If you're a driver, rest easy knowing that you're likely not at risk from the marauding hordes of hitchhikers you likely see on your daily commute. The fact that you think you are, though, means you may well be a good person to start picking people up — if you're not out to harm them, you're better than many drivers out there on the road. It's the hitchers who are at the real risk, so maybe give a ride to the next one you see. You may be saving them from something far worse.
