I have hitched once when i was going through my rebellious teen years... i thought i was the bees knees in my goth outfit, black hair, big doc martin boots, pierced nose ect,,[hey we all went through phases ..god this goth/punk think makes me cringe arghhh]..anyway i wanted to get to manchester so walked a very v long way then hitched..i was so lucky, a big wagon/lorry with 2 or 3 guys stopped, they were very concerned for me, they took me right where i wanted to go, gave me couple quid and the driver gave me his home number said to call his wife with the couiple quid if i need to or in trouble ect...i would never ever hitch again!!
As for pickiong up a hitcher..id have to say no, mia is usually with me in the car so id never put her in any danger, nor myself. But yes there can be genuine hitchers out there but in todays world you cant trust random starngers.

Well, you didn't say when that was but I agree with you, lucky, and not many people would help you out with money either.

Here in Czech Republic (Eastern Europe) you see a lot of people hitching (men & women) but you need to remember that there is still the culture of the 'family' here, I won't say there are no pervos & lunnys but it's exceedingly rare. Things are changing of course with the arrival of tens of thousands of people from neighbouring countries (Not yet in the EU) who are mostly, young, single, men, uneducated, and with no money. You can work out the rest for yourselves.

The only ppl my OH would picks up is the armed forces even tho they shouldn't do it but some do.

No, to be honset, I would be to scared to! I would have images of them pulling knifes out on me and what not! I know the chances are they would not, but what can I say, I have an active imagination