Source: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/theslice/en...

If you talk to people who hitchhike in America today you’ll hear a lot of these jokes about killing or being killed. The specter of danger looms large, so much so that, if my friend’s story is to be believed, picking up a hitcher can be considered a lackadaisical attempt at suicide. Another friend who once thumbed clear across the country with his girlfriend (and who for two years hitched to school every morning in Massachusetts), says nearly everyone who picked him up recalled their own days of hitchhiking glory—right before they reminded him how dangerous the practice had become.